THE  OLD  TESTAMENT 

BIBLE  STORIES 

FOR  THE,  YOUNG, 


BY  WALTER  L  SHELDON 


GIFT   OF 
Mrs .   Gladys   Isaacson 


The  Old  Testament  Bible 
Stories  For  the  Young 

FOR     USE     IN     THE     HOME      AND     SCHOOL 

By  WALTER  L.  SHELDON 

Lecturer  of  the  Ethical  Society 
of  St.  Louis.     .-.      /.      .'.      .-. 

Some  Words  of  Cordial  Endorsement. 

"I  have  read  Mr.  Sheldon's  Old  Testament  Bible  Stories 
with  profound  interest.  They  will  be  of  great  service  to  many 
a  teacher,  as  well  as  to  many  a  child.  Written  from  the 
standpoint  of  modern  exegesis,  yet  in  simplest  language  and 
with  a  manifest  purpose  everywhere  to  bring  out  the  moral 
significance  and  the  lessons  for  life  that  may  be  drawn  from 
these  Stories,  the  work  meets  a  real  want. ' ' 

PROF.  NATHANIEL  SCHMIDT. 

Cornell  University,  Ithaca,  New  York. 

"I  doubt  if  anything  better  has  ever  been  done  to  bring 
the  real  value  of  the  Old  Testament  home  to  the  minds  of  chil- 
dren. Certainly  I  know  nothing  else  that  begins  to  be  as  good. 
I  wish  that  I  could  put  one  of  these  volumes  into  every  family 
in  my  congregation."  KEY.  WASHINGTON  GLADDEN. 

Congregational  Church,  Columbus,  Ohio. 

"I  have  read  parts  of  the  work  to  my  children  and  other 
parts  to  myself,  and  fhey  stand  both  tests  admirably.  They 
are  interesting  and  profitable.  I  am  glad  to  see  that  you  have 
not  felt  it  necessary  to  spoil  a  good  story  by  critical  interpre- 
tation. This,  I  think,  is  the  right  way  to  deal  with  these 
ancient  and  beautiful  narratives." 

KEY.  GEORGE  HODGES. 

Dean  of  the  Episcopal  Theological  Seminary,  Cambridge, 
Mass. 

"I  most  heartily  commend  your  painstaking  effort  and 
wish  for  your  work  the  wide  circulation  I  am  sure  it  deserves. ' ' 

KEY.  JAMES  W.  LEE. 
St.  John's  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

"Your  stories  are  first  of  all  interesting;  and,  best  of  all, 
carry  their  moral  in  their  warp  and  woof.  The  very  best  of 
your  book  is  its  "Suggestions  to  Teachers,"  which  I  wish 
might  be  read  by  every  Sunday-school  teacher  in  the  land. ' ' 

REV.  A.  F.  EASTMAN. 

Congregational   Church,   Elmira,   N.  Y. 


' '  It  seems  to  me  that  your  book  will  reach  a  wide  public. 
People  of  all  creeds  are  anxious  to  find  some  way  of  teaching 
the  elements  of  righteousness.  You  have  adapted  the  Bible 
Stories  most  admirably  to  this  purpose.  I  should  be  glad 
to  have  my  words  of  appreciation  used  in  any  way  that  might 
bring  the  book  to  the  attention  of  those  who  are  struggling 
with  the  Sunday-school  problem. ' '  KEV.  S.  M.  CROTHERS. 

First  Church  of  Cambridge,  Mass. 

' '  It  seems  to  me  that  you  have  succeeded  in  making  the 
Bible  Stories  real  and  living  for  children,  and  that  you  have 
drawn  out  clearly  the  important  ethical  teaching  of  each  story. 
I  like  especially  the  idea  of  the  "Memory  Verses"  with  which 
the  stories  are  supplemented." 

KEV.  JULIUS  W.  ATWOOD. 

Trinity  Episcopal  Church,  Columbus,  Ohio. 

"Your  volume  of  Old  Testament  Bible  Stories  is  a  splendid 
addition  to  religious  and  ethical  literature.  I  have  never  met 
with  any  work  that  brings  out  the  ethical  value  of  these  stories 
so  clearly.  The  language  is  so  simple  and  the  moral  is  so 
plain  that  the  work  can  only  prove  serviceable  and  helpful  to 
all  interested  in  using  the  Bible  as  a  text-book  of  moral  an:l 
religious  instruction."  KABBI  J.  LEONARD  LEVY,  D.D. 

Pittsburg,  Pa. 

' '  The  Outlook  repeatedly  commended  this  work  while  it 
was  in  course  of  serial  publication.  Mr.  Sheldon  is  widely 
known  as  a  teacher  in  ethics.  He  bears  influential  testimony 
that  he  has  become  more  and  more  impressed  with  the  value 
of  the  stories  of  the  Old  Testament  as  a  means  for  the  ethical 
instruction  of  the  young." — The  OutlooTc,  Dec.  27,  1902. 

' '  The  ever  recurring  desire  on  the  part  of  so  many  that  the 
Bible  may  form  a  part  of  the  public  school  curriculum  seems 
to  be  met  by  Mr.  Sheldon's  book.  Mr.  Sheldon  proceeds  on 
the  presumption  that  the  reading  of  the  Bible  should  be  the 
task  and  privilege  of  adult  minds,  and  his  present  work  is  a 
re-written  version  of  certain  esential  stories  for  the  express 
purpose  of  interesting  and  instructing  younger  minds,  so  that 
when  they  come  to  read  the  other  version  the  story,  with  its 
essential  facts,  is  already  known. ' ' — Chicago  Tribune,  Jan.  24, 
1903. 

"Now  that  'the  study  of  the  Bible  in  the  schools  is  being 
urged,  from  the  literary  as  well  as  the  religious  standpoint, 
many  will  welcome  Mr.  Sheldon's  efforts  to  meet  this  de- 
mand. "—Baltimore  American,  Dec.  6,  1902. 

"We  do  not  see  why  this  book  could  not  go  into  any  family 
or  Sunday-school  to  do  its  work  as  a  teacher  of  ethics  without 
coming  into  conflict  with  any  theological  prejudices." — Chris- 
tian Register,  Boston,  Feb.  12,  1903. 


DAVI  D 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT 

BIBLE    STORIES 


AS  A  BASIS  FOR 

THE  ETHICAL  INSTRUCTION  OF  THE 
YOUNG 


REVISED  EDITION 


LIBRARY 

Temple  Mt.  Sim 
Sioux  City,  low) 


BY 

WALTER  L.  SHELDON 
// 


W.  M.  WELCH  &  COMPANY 

179  Illinois  St. 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 

IQOZ 


W.  M.  WELCH  &  COMPANY, 
CHICAGO. 


PREFACE. 

It  has  been  as  a  teacher  in  ethics  that  the  author  has 
become  more  and  more  impressed  with  the  value  of 
the  Old  Testament  Bible  Stories  as  a  means  for  the 
ethical  instruction  of  the  young.  From  this  standpoint 
alone  they  are  without  parallel  in  the  world's  literature. 
What  is  more,  they  can  be  used  for  this  purpose  by  all 
classes  of  serious  minds.  For  the  devout  Christian,  or 
the  pious  Jew,  for  the  agnostic,  or  oriental  Buddhist, 
they  teach  the  same  lesson,  and  it  is  a  lesson  on  which 
they  can  all  agree.  Each  person  may  add  his  own  the- 
ological interpretations,  but  he  can  have  but  one 
opinion  as  to  the  moral  truth  to  be  found  there.  From 
the  picture  of  Adam  and  Eve  in  the  Garden  of  Eden 
down  to  the  death  of  Solomon,  it  is  a  narrative  sat- 
urated all  the  way  through  with  the  stern  teaching  of 
ethical  experience.  And  it  may  be  well  to  give  these 
stories  to  the  mind  when  it  is  quite  young — perhaps  at 
the  early  age  from  seven  to  ten  years.  It  is  then,  if 
not  before,  that  the  specific  education  of  the  conscience 
should  begin ;  and  the  best  means  for  this  purpose  at 
the  outset  would  be  these  stories  from  life  itself. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  every  one  is  aware  that  the 
Bible  was  intended  as  Scriptures  for  adult  minds.  The 
conscience  of  the  child  cannot  take  truth  home  in  the 
form  in  which  the  adult  would  receive  it.  Under  these 
circumstances  we  are  not  dealing  irreverently  in  rear- 
ranging this  material  in  simpler  story  form  for  the 
young  mind,  putting  it  in  such  shape  that  the  ethical 
lesson  shall  stand  out  conspicuously  and  free  from  cer- 
tain complications  in  which  the  language  in  the  Scrip- 
tures themselves  may  be  involved. 

Few  persons,  unless  they  had  made  the  effort,  would 

Ml8h04 


4  PREFACE. 

realize  what  delicate  and  difficult  problems  are  involved 
in  such  an  undertaking.  The  author  has  been  at  work 
upon  it  for  several  years,  weighing  and  considering 
each  point  with  painstaking  care.  He  appreciates  that 
a  life-time  might  well  be  employed  in  this  one  task. 
The  language,  as  will  be  seen,  is  in  the  first  person 
singular,  as  if  one  were  talking  to  children  of  seven  or 
eight  years  of  age. 

Years  of  study  and  reflection  have  only  emphasized 
the  regard  which  the  author  has  felt  for  the  moral 
truths  to  be  found  in  these  Scriptures.  It  may  be  ex- 
plained on  his  part  that  he  has  for  a  long  period  of 
time  been  at  work  on  a  complete  and  graded  course 
of  ethical  instruction  for  young  people  from  seven 
years  of  age  up  to  adult  life.  At  the  basis  of  it  all, 
however,  he  wishes  to  use  for  the  very  corner  stone  the 
"Old  Testament  Bible  Stories." 

WALTER  L.  SHELDON, 

4065  Delmar  Avenue, 
August  loth,  1902.  St.  Louis,  Mo. 


CONTENTS. 


PART  I. — THE  EARLY  WORLD. 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  The  Garden  of  Eden 16 

II.  The  Murder  of  Abel 27 

III.  Noah  and  the  Flood 36 

IV.  The  Tower  of  Babel 43 

PART  II. — THE  PATRIARCHS. 

V.  The  Promise  to  Abram 49 

VI.  The  Casting  Out  of  Hagar 58 

VII.  Sodom  and  Gomorrah 64 

VIII.  Abraham  Tested   73 

IX.  The  Choice  of  a  Family  Tomb 78 

X.  Choosing  a  Wife  for  Isaac 82 

XI.  Jacob  and  Esau 91 

XII.  Jacob  in  a  Distant  Land 99 

XIII.  Joseph  and  His  Brethren 108 

XIV.  Joseph  in  Egypt 114 

XV.  Meeting  of  Joseph  and  His  Brethren  118 

XVI.  The  Second  Journey  to  Egypt  ....  124 

XVII.  The  Death  of  Israel 130 


PART  III. — EGYPT  AND  THE  WILDERNESS. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 

XX. 

XXL 


The  Birth  of  Moses  134 

The  Burning  Bush  141 

Moses  and  Pharaoh  146 

The  Flight  of  the  Israelites 152 


XXII.     The  Trials  of  Moses  156 


CONTENTS. 
CHAPTER  PAGE 

XXIII.  The  Giving  of  the  Ten  Command- 

ments       165 

XXIV.  The  Ark  and  the  Tabernacle 172 

XXV.  The  Sin  of  Moses 175 

XXVI.  Nearing  the  Promised  Land 180 

XXVII.  The  Story  of  Balaam 187 

XXVIII.  The  Death  of  Moses  193 

PART  IV. — CONQUERING  THE  LAND  OF  CANAAN. 

XXIX.  Crossing  the  Jordan 198 

XXX.  Conquering  the  City  of  Jericho 205 

XXXI.  Wars  of  the  Israelites  in  Canaan  . .  212 

XXXII.  The  Last  Days  of  Joshua 219 

XXXIII.  The  Story  of  Samson 223 

XXXIV.  The  End  of  the  Career  of  Samson.  229 
XXXV.  Jephthah's  Daughter 237 

XXXVI.  The  Story  of  Ruth 242 

XXXVII.  The  Patience  of  Job 251 

PART  V. — ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  KINGDOM. 

XXXVIII.  The  Boy  Samuel 258 

XXXIX.  The  Call  of  the  Israelites  for  a  King  263 

XL.  Saul  the  King  . . .-. 269 

XLI.  The  Boy  David 275 

XLII.  Saul's  Jealousy  of  David 282 

XLIII.  David  and  Jonathan 288 

XLIV.  How  David  Behaved  Toward  Saul  .  294 

XLV.  Death  of  King  Saul   , 299 

XLVI.  David  Becomes  King 303 

XLVIL  ,How  David  Did  Wrong 308 

XLVIII.  David  and  His  Son  Absalom 313 

XLIX.  King  Solomon   318 

L,  The  Close  of  the  First  Kingdom  ...   323 


Special  Suggestions  to  the  Teachers  Using:  These 
Bible  Stories* 

It  is  to  be  kept  in  mind  that  these  stories  are  to  be 
read  to  children  and  not  by  them.  They  are  not  to  be 
classed  as  children's  literature.  It  is  the  parent  or 
teacher  who  should  use  them  as  a  means  for  the  ethical 
instruction  of  the  young. 

With  the  same  thought  in  view,  it  would  be  advisa- 
ble not  to  read  to  the  pupils  many  of  these  chapters 
continuously  as  if  they  were  a  story  book.  On  the  con- 
trary, they  should  foe  taken  up  separately,  one  by  one, 
talked  over,  discussed,  explained,  analyzed  and  thor- 
oughly mastered.  They  are  intended  as  lessons  rather 
than  as  stories. 

As  Bible  stories  they  should  be  kept  distinct  in  the 
minds  of  the  young  from  the  stories  to  be  found  in 
other  literature.  They  should  stand  out  by  themselves 
as  of  peculiar  value  and  significance.  It  is  to  be  re- 
membered that  there  is  an  ethical  thread  pervading 
these  narratives,  of  a  kind  such  as  we  find  no  where 
else  in  the  ancient  world.  Young  people  should  feel  a 
certain  reverence  or  awe  for  stories  as  coming  from  the 
Bible — apart  from  whatever  standpoint  may  be  taken 
with  regard  to  the  doctrine  of  inspiration.  On  this 
account  it  were  better  not  to  narrate  any  other  stories 
in  connection  with  these.  Do  not  introduce  material 
from,  other  literatures  while  using  the  stories  from  the 
Bible. 

In  using  these  stories  for  children  there  are  two  pur- 
poses in  view.  On  the  one  hand  it  is  desired  that 
young  people  should  know  these  tales  because  the  ma- 
terial is  classic,  and  therefore,  essential  to  the  culture 
of  every  educated  person.  Not  to  be  acquainted  with 


8  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

the  Bible"  stories  should  \bring  any  person  into  con* 
•cmpr.  They  are,  the  basis  of  the  literature  and  the  cul- 
mre'  of  Christendom.  Young  people  should  therefore 
be  thoroughly  familiar  with  them,  acquiring  the  main 
points  at  an  early  age  so  as  to  hold  them  in  memory 
clearly  and  definitely  for  the  rest  of  their  days. 

Try  hard,  therefore,  just  to  fix  the  general  run  of 
the  tales  in  the  minds  of  the  little  ones.  After  reading 
over  a  story  aloud,  let  one  of  the  pupils  repeat  it 
back  while  the  others  listen  and  make  corrections. 
There  could  each  time  be  a  review  of  the  previous  sto- 
ries which  have  been  discussed,  and  the  young  people 
might  take  turns  in  giving  the  narratives  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  other  members  of  the  class.  This  should  be 
done  over  and  over  again  as  much  as  the  children  will 
endure  without  growing  tired  of  it.  But  there  needs 
to  be  a  great  deal  of  repetition.  It  is  important  that 
the  young  people  should  not  only  be  familiar  with  each 
story,  but  be  able  to  preserve  the  connection  between 
the  narratives  as  a  whole. 

Because  of  the  importance  of  these  tales  as  Stories 
from  the  Bible,  it  is  advisable  to  emphasize  special  de- 
tails, dwelling  particularly  on  phrases  which  have  be- 
come classic  in  history,  such  as  "Making  bricks  with- 
out straw,"  "Flesh  pots  of  Egypt,"  "Entertaining 
Angels  unawares''  and  others  of  the  same  kind.  The 
young  people  should  remember  definitely  where  such 
phrases  occur  and  what  is  meant  by  them.  So,  too, 
there  should  be  constant  repetition  of  the  prominent 
names  in  the  narrative.  These  should  be  listed  and 
written  out  on  the  blackboard,  so  that  they  shall  be- 
cmne  fixed  lastingly  on  the  mind.  Here,  too,  there 
should  be  a  great  deal  of  reviewing  and  repetition. 

In  reading  the  stories  aloud  it  may  often  be  possible 
to  extend  the  material,  making  three  or  four  para- 
graphs of  one  paragraph,  by  introducing  more  words 
or  explanatory  conversation.  The  success  in  doing 
this  will  depend  upon  the  personal  gifts  of  the  teacher. 
It  might  be  advisable  at  one  time  to  have  the  story 
read  as  it  stands  here,  and  on  another  occasion  to  go 


THE  EARLY  WORLD.  9 

over  it  with  much  expansion.  The  danger,  of  course, 
is  that  the  teacher  may  introduce  extraneous  material 
and  interfere  with  the  main  import  of  the  lesson  as  it 
stands. 

When  the  quotations  are  met  with,  they  should  be 
left  and  read  exactly  as  they  are,  with  no  interpolations 
or  modifications.  This  is  very  important,  because  we 
have  endeavored  in  this  direction  to  introduce  the 
quaint  and  beautiful  English  of  the  Old  English  Bible. 
It  would  be  well,  therefore,  to  preserve  the  style  in  such 
quotations,  even  where  the  words  are  quite  large,  as 
these  can  foe  explained  afterwards. 

As  to  the  inevitable  question,  sure  to  come,  whether 
the  stories  are  true,  the  answer  will  depend  upon  the 
parent  or  teacher  using  them.  The  problem  here,  of 
course,  is  a  very  important  one.  We  are  to  consider  what 
kind  of  an  effect  will  come  in  later  years  from  a  study 
of  this  literature  by  the  young  people  when  they  grow 
older.  It  is  vital  that  the  feeling  of  respect  and  awe 
for  the  ethical  teachings  of  the  Bible  should  not  be 
shaken  through  any  disillusion  coming  from  a  discov- 
ery of  the  want  of  accuracy  in  these  narratives  on  the 
historical  side.  At  the  same  time,  it  would  probably 
be  a  mistake  to  go  into  an  analysis  of  the  various  parts 
of  this  material,  to  discuss  what  is  and  what  is  not  his- 
torical. One  answer  to  the  question  of  the  children 
might  be  that  these  stories  are  "some  true  and  some 
not  true" — implying  that  there  is  an  element  of  truth 
running  through  them,  while  we  may  not  perhaps 
know  in  regard  to  the  special  points.  We  can  explain 
how  these  stories  arose  a  long  time  ago,  and  therefore, 
how  we  cannot  be  perfectly  sure  as  to  the  details  of  all 
the  facts  described.  If  possible,  what  we  desire  is  to 
make  the  young  people  see  that  there  is  a  truth  to  the 
sentiment  of  the  stories,  even  where  there  may  not  al- 
ways be  truth  in  the  incidents  narrated.  But  after  the 
question  has  once  been  asked  and  answered,  it  should 
be  put  aside  and  not  brought  up  again. 

As  to  the  element  of  the  Supernatural  which  is  intro- 
duced, here  again  the  treatment  must  depend  on  the 


10  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

individual  parent  or  teacher.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  there  would  be  almost  nothing  to  these  stones 
without  that  element.  What  is  more,  the  children  are 
still  at  an  age  when  the  natural  and  the  supernatural  run 
together,  as  they  have  not  begun  to  rationalise  or 
to  know  what  is  meant  by  the  "laws  of  nature."  For 
those  who  might  object  to  the  element  of  the  Super- 
natural under  other  circumstances,  it  may  here  be  con- 
sidered as  harmless,  unless  it  is  very  much  exagger- 
ated. On  the  other  hand,  there  may  be  those  who 
desire  to  treat  it  as  actual  occurrence.  The  chief  cau- 
tion to  be  given  on  this  score  is  that  if^  emphasis  is  laid 
too  much  on  the  Supernatural,  there  is  a  very  decided 
loss  in  the  value  of  the  ethical  element  in  the  narrative. 

There  may  be  a  strong  desire  on  the  part  of  certain 
parents  or  teachers  to  go  back  to  the  Bible  and  intro- 
duce more  of  the  passages  there.  If  this  is  tried,  how- 
ever,  it  should  \be  done  ivith  a  great  deal  of  caution. 
The  trouble  with  the  Bible  as  it  stands  is  that  it  was 
written  for  the  adult  mind.  There  is  danger  lest  young 
people  get  an  erroneous  impression  by  reading  that  lit- 
erature as  it  stands,  and  then  having  that  impression 
so  -fixed  that  it  can  never  be  eradicated.  In  reading 
to  young  people  strictly  from  the  Bible  there  is,  there- 
fore,  a  necessity  for  so  much  side-explanation  that  un- 
fortunate consequences  may  follow.  It  may  also  bring 
on  a  confusion  of  mind  to  the  child  from  which  he  wifl 
never  escape. 

The  age  for  which  these  stories  are  adapted  would 
perhaps  range  from  seven  to  nine  years.  If  used  for 
children  younger  than  this,  their  deeper  significance  is 
lost  sight  of  in  the  mere  story;  so  that  when  used  at  a 
later  age  they  will  not  be  listened  to  or  truly  appreci- 
ated. In  this  way  interest  in  them  may  be  dulled  be- 
fore the  mind  is  awakened. 

The  most  delicate  of  all  problems  with  regard  to  the 
method  of  introducing  Bible  stories  to  children  has  to 
do  with  names  of  the  Deity,  because  of  the  number  of 
terms  employed  for  this  purpose  in  Sacred  Literature. 
If  we  introduce  the  whole  subject  to  the  young  mind, 


THE  EARLY  WORLD.  II 

giving  it  just  as  it  stands  in  the  Bible,  tt  may  prove 
disastrous  for  the  person's  theistic  conceptions  lacer  on 
when  he  has  become  mature.  It  is  debu<.able 
whether  the  name  for  the  Deity  as  presented  in  the 
high  and  exalted  conception  of  the  prophets,  should 
be  employed  for  the  more  realistic  conceptions  of  the 
subject  as  found  in  parts  of  Genesis.  After  mature 
consideration,  the  author  has  decided,  therefore,  to  use 
the  name  "Lord"  for  this  purpose  throughout  the  Sto- 
ries, alternating  perhaps  with  the  terms  "Ruler  of  the 
World,"  or  "Ruler  Over  All."  In  this  way,  the  generic 
term  "God"  is  left  for  the  time  when  the  young  person 
approaches  the  profound  theistic  attitude  of  the  Proph- 
ets. By  this  means  the  conception  of  deity  as  such  can 
be  reserved  for  the  generic  name.  Another  method 
might  be  to  use  the  historic  Hebrew  name  "Yahweh" 
throughout  these  Stories.  This  would  be  in  many 
ways  the  most  satisfactory  method,  if  it  were  not  for 
the  fact  that  such  a  name  would  probably  always  seem 
remote  and  far  away  and  never  really  come  into  gen- 
eral use. 

The  second  reason  why  these  stories  should  foe 
brought  home  to  young  people  is  because  of  the  ethical 
element  running  through  them.  Beyond  any  question, 
they  are  more  satisfactory  and  of  greater  value  in  this 
direction,  than  any  other  literature  of  antiquity.  No 
other  series  of  early  tales  bring  out  this  element  to  the 
same  extent.  While  it  may  be  asserted  that  in  many 
special  instances  the  moral  standpoint  is  not  satis- 
factory, yet  the  dominant  thread  of  them  as  a  whole  is 
ethical  in  the  extreme.  When  used  in  the  right  way, 
they  are  unquestionably  the  finest  material  extant  for 
bringing  home  the  distinction  between  good  and  evil 
to  the  young  mind.  The  point  of  the  entire  narra- 
tive from  \beginning  to  end  is  involved  in  the  lesson: 
Be  sure  your  sin  will  find  you  out. 

Our  supreme  purpose,  therefore,  in  these  stories 
should  be  to  use  them  as  a  means  for  arousing  the 
latent  conscience  or  ethical  sense  in  the  young.  It 
is  to  be  an  influence  on  the  sentiments  of  children. 


12  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

We  are  to  bear  down  hard  on  the  ethical  side.  And 
this  is  just  what  we  are  able  to  do  consistently  in 
these  Bible  Stories. 

When  the  children,  therefore,  tell  the  stories  them- 
selves, it  might  be  well  to  have  them  put  in  the  moral 
lesson  involved.  Only,  do  not  have  this  come  at  the 
end  of  the  story,  like  the  tiresome  "moral"  in  the  old- 
style  fables.  It  should  be  introduced  rather  as  a  kind 
of  reflection  or  observation  while  the  story  is  being 
told,  just  in  the  way  anybody  might  talk  or  philoso- 
phise when  telling  any  event  he  had  heard  about.  The 
success  of  the  "moralizing?'  all  depends  on  the  way  it 
is  done.  It  may  be  carried  on  very  effectively  for 
young  children  if  parents  or  teachers  understand 
the  right  method.  But  under  any  circumstances  it 
should  be  constantly  in  the  mind  o>f  the  teacher  or 
parent  that  these  lessons  are  to  be  used  as  offering 
the  foundation  or  starting  point  for  an  entire  course 
of  ethical  instruction  for  the  young. 

It  should  be  observed  that  there  are  a  few  conspic- 
uous points  brought  out  over  and  over  again  in  these 
lessons.  This  repetition  is  intentional.  We  should 
aim  to  some  extent  to  anticipate  the  elements  of  that 
kind  of  ethical  instruction  which  life  itself,  or  every 
day  experience,  is  to  bring  home  or  teach  to  the  ma- 
ture. In  these  teachings,  therefore,  we  begin  to  sound 
the  notes,  here  and  there,  of  those  life-lessons  which 
should  be  developed  or  elaborated  in  a  future  course 
of  ethical  instruction. 

The  "lesson"  in  these  stories  is  always  bold  and 
emphatic.  And  this  is  the  characteristic  throughout 
the  stories  in  the  Bible.  It  would  be  a  mistake  to  try 
to  refine  too  much  in  the  moralizing,  or  to  go  too  far 
in  self -scrutiny.  When  wickedness  occurs  in  these 
stories  it  is  usually  very  prouonced.  And  the  ethi- 
cal teachings  are  of  the  elemental  kind,  against  mur- 
der, disobediance,  lying,  stealing  or  pride.  For  our 
purpose  this  characteristic  of  the  Bible  stories  is  very 
valuable.  The  lines  are  sharply  drawn. 

A  fact  that  will  strike  the  children  all  through  the 


THE  EARLY  WORLD.  13 

lessons  is  that  nearly  all  the  great  characters  at  one 
time  or  another  committed  some  act  of  wickedness. 
There  is  no  way  of  overlooking  this  circum- 
stance, although  it  grows  tiresome  and  monotonous. 
The  chief  Bible  characters  present  a  striking  mix- 
ture of  good  and  evil.  But,  as  a  rule,  it  will  be  seen 
that  wickedness  is  condemned  and  in  one  way  or 
another  gets  punished. 

In  the  moralising  it  is  very  important  to  be  careful 
not  to  try  to  show  how  some  one  act  of  wickedness 
always  gets  punished  directly  or  in  a  certain  way. 
This  might  be  very  misleading  to  the  children's 
minds  by  making  them  think  that  somehow 
unhappiness  or  suffering  invariably  accompanies 
the  wrong  act.  Experience  later  on  would 
disabuse  them  of  this  impression  and  cause  a 
sense  of  disillusioin  which  would  be  most  unfortun~ 
ate.  What  these  stories  do  convey  is  that  the  general 
trend  of  things  is  against  wickedness,  condemning 
and  opposing  it.  This  should  \be  brought  out  by  the 
way  the  stories  are  told,  rather  than  by  saying  it  out- 
right. The  whole  purport  of  these  tales  is  to  bring 
out  this  one  point,  so  as  to  arouse  a  feeling  against 
wrong  conduct,  against  evil  deeds,  against  "wicked- 
ness." We  must  somehow  impress  it  on  the  young 
mind  that  there  is  some  kind  of  woe  betiding  wick- 
edness if  not  always  betiding  at  once  or  directly  t'm 
wicked  man.  What  we  are  aiming  for  is  to  create  a 
sentiment  as  if  somehow*  the  whole  universe  were 
bearing  down  on  wickedness. 

Take  care  in  these  lessons  not  to  use  the  word 
"conscience"  too  much.  The  little  ones  may  be  in- 
clined to  introduce  the  term  over  and  over  again 
from  the  way  it  is  used  in  their  homes.  It  may  be 
employed  now  and  then,  but  with  caution  and  re- 
serve. The  same  thought  applies  to  the  terms  "be- 
ing good"  or  "sense  of  duty."  We  must  not  wear 
out  these  solemn  words  or  phrases  by  too  much  rep- 
etition. On  the  other  hand,  we  can  simplify  the 
language  of  course,  trying  to  talk  in  the  way  moth- 


14  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

ers  would  speak  to  their  children,  using  such  words 
as  "naughty,"  "bad'  "mischievous,"  or  whatever 
terms  the  little  ones  are  accustomed  to  as  applying 
to  evil  conduct  or  good  conduct. 

In  telling  these  stories  it  must  not  be  overlooked 
that  we  are  taking  the  children  into  a  world  of  which 
they  know  very  little,  and  about  which  they  only  have 
dreams  or  vague  impressions.  Hence  we  may  often  find 
it  necessary  to  develop  the  terms  we  use.  Such  a 
word  as  "king"  for  instance,  needs  to  be  talked  over 
a  great  deal,  so  that  the  young  people  should  have 
some  definite  notion  of  what  it  implies.  Language 
of  this  kind  needs  to  be  brought  down  to  the  level 
of  their  experience.  On  the  other  hand,  it  must  not 
be  forgotten  that  even  young  children  are  rapidly 
acquiring  knowledge.  They  have  already  come  in  con- 
tact with  certain  of  the  great  relations  in  life.  They 
know  what  it  is  to  have  their  own  way  and  be  able 
to  do  what  they  please;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  to  be 
obliged  to  obey.  They  even  know  what  it  is  to  make 
others  obey  them*  They  know  what  home  means  and 
the  love  of  father  and  mother.  They  have  probably 
caught  some  notion  of  wickedness;  they  have  al- 
ready had  experience  with  selfishness  on  the  one 
hand,  or  kindness  on  the  other.  We  all  know  that 
children  may  understand  a  great  deal  more  than  they 
are  able  to  explain. 

In  order  to  emphasise  the  ethical  elements  in  these 
lessons,  it  will  be  well  from  time  ta  time,  besides  ask- 
ing the  children  to  repeat  the  stories  they  have  heard, 
to  have  them  go  back  and  mention  the  good  and  evil 
deeds  of  each  of  the  characters.  Catechise  them  as 
to  what  the  sin  of  Moses  was,  what  wicked  act  was 
comitted  by  David,  what  wrong  conduct  Saul  was 
guilty  of,  what  blameworthy  act  we  know  of  in  the 
life  of  Jacob,  what  noble  deed  is  told  concerning 
Abraham,  what  kind  of  generous  spirit  David 
showed  at  one  time  to  Saul. 

As  regards  the  picture  material  to  be  used  in  con- 
nection with  these  stories,  one  or  two  important  con- 


THE  EARLY  WORLD.  1.5 

siderations  must  be  taken  into  account.  Undoubt- 
edly it  will  be  of  service  when  suitable  illustrations 
are  presented,  in  order  to  give  a  more  concrete  back- 
ground to  the  narrative.  But  this  step  should  always 
be  taken  with  a  great  deal  of  forethought.  The 
trouble  is  that  a  large  number  of  the  pictures  ordin?- 
arily  used  in  illustrating  the  Bible  stories,  empha- 
size the  "wonder"  features  of  the  story  rather  than 
the  lesson  it  teaches.  In  this  way  they  may  act  as  a  dis- 
traction rather  than  a  positive  assistance  in  the  in- 
strucive  work. 

So  far  as  these  Bible  stories  are  employed  for  edu- 
cational purposes,  the  teacher  is  advised  to  make  only 
selections  from  the  illustrated  Bibles,  or  the  miscel- 
laneous material  offered  in  this  direction — taking 
chiefly  pictures  which  bring,  out  the  landscape  or 
scenery,  the  dress  or  social  customs  of  Palestine  at 
that  time.  This  may  serve  to  give  an  air  of  realism 
to  the  narrative  while  not  throwing  the  emphasis  in 
the  wrong  direction.  But  fanciful  pictures  aiming  to 
bring  in  the  supernatural  elements  should  be  used 
with  caution.  Such  material  may  become  fixed  in- 
delibly on  the  young  mind  and  foster  a  realistic  an- 
thropomorphism which  may  never  be  eradicated.  At 
the  same  time,  of  course,  in  this  matter  as  in  all 
others,  the  author  does  not  wish  to  be  dogmatic  and 
must  leave  the  final  decision  on  this  subject  with  the 
teacher. 

We  repeat:  use  these  stories  as  a  means  for  teach- 
ing the  rudimentary  principles  of  ethics,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  arousing  the  latent  ethical  sense  of  the  young. 


PART  I. 

THE  EARLY  WORLD. 


CHAPTER  I. 
The  Garden  of  Eden. 

I  am  going  to  tell  you  a  beautiful  old  story  of  the 
far  away  time,  hundreds  and  thousands  of  years  ago. 
Just  how  long  ago  it  was,  we  cannot  say.  It  takes 
us  back  to  those  days  when  there  were  no  people  on 
the  earth — no  men,  no  women,  no  children.  The  -iky 
was  there,  the  sea  was  there,  and  the  land  was  there. 
But  there  were  no  people  to  look  up  at  the  sky,  or  to 
travel  on  the  seas  or  to  till  the  soil.  Just  think  how 
quiet  and  lonesome  it  must  have  seemed  with  nobody 
there;  all  the  great  world  and  no  man  in  it! 

It  seems  that  the  Great  Being,  the  Ruler  of  the 
World,  whom  we  shall  speak  of  in  these  stories  as  the 
Lord — it  seems  at  last  that  he  had  made  up  his  mind 
there  must  be  a  change.  There  ought  to  be  people  in 
this  beautiful  world.  All  those  stars  up  there  in  the 
sky  should  not  be  there  without  being  looked  at;  and 
the  beautiful  flowers  and  trees  and  streams  of  water 
pleased  him  so  much  that  he  felt  there  ought  to  be 
human  beings  who  should  look  at  all  these  and  delight 
in  them.  And  so  he  decided  that  he  would  put  people 
on  the  earth ;  that  it  should  no  longer  be  solitary  and 
lonesome  everywhere,  because  there  would  be  men 
and  women  who  could  see  the  world,  admire  it  and 
take  pleasure  in  it. 

But  first  he  thought  it  wise  to  make  a  beautiful 
garden,  where  man  should  dwell.  Now,  the  Ruler 
of  the  World,  of  course,  must  have  known  a  great  deal 

16 


THE  EARLY  WORLD.  I? 

and  been  able  to  do  about  anything  he  wanted  to  do. 
Somewhere,  therefore,  over  in  far  away  Asia,  he 
chose  a  place  for  his  garden;  and  he  planted  it  with 
trees  of  all  kinds.  You  can  have  no  idea  what  was 
growing  there.  Everything  that  was  fair  to  look 
upon  or  that  could  please  the  eye  was  in  that  garden. 
Beautiful  ferns  grew  all  about,  in  the  woods  and  along 
the  streams.  Tall  oak  trees  and  maple  trees  and  elm 
trees  were  there,  and  palms  without  number.  Then, 
too,  there  were  all  kinds  of  fruit  trees  laden  with  the 
richest  fruits.  There  was  the  apple  tree  and  the  pear 
tree  and  the  trees  bearing  plums  and  oranges  and 
pomegranates.  All  the  fruits  that  you  could  think  of, 
were  growing  on  those  trees. 

And  then,  furthermore,  as  to  the  flowers, — oh,  if 
cnly  you  could  have  a  picture  of  all  the  flowers  that 
grew  in  that  garden;  small  and  great,  and  of  all  the 
tints  and  colors  of  the  rainbow !  There  were  flowers 
as  small  as  a  tiny  dewdrop;  others  again  larger  than 
any  we  ever  see  nowadays.  And  there  were  all  kinds 
of  birds  in  that  garden;  song-birds  building  their 
nests  in  the  trees,  or  along  the  brookside,  or  in  the 
grasses.  There  was  the  mocking-bird  and  the  oriole, 
and  birds  of  such  rare  and  wonderful  plumage  that 
the  eye  of  man  would  be  dazzled  just  to  look  upon 
them.  There  was  the  bird  of  paradise,  that  you  know 
of,  and  others  perhaps  even  more  beautiful  than  the 
bird  of  paradise. 

Of  course,  there  were  animals  of  all  kinds,  living 
under  the  trees,  playing  together  in  the  water,  or 
roaming  through  the  fields.  Over  it  all  was  the  great 
and  glorious  dome  of  the  sky,  with  the  stars  and 
moon  shining  by  night,  and  the  sun  shining  by  day. 
But  it  was  never  too  hot  there,  nor  too  cold.  If  the 
winds  blew,  they  blew  gently  and  never  did  any  harm. 
Ng.  awful  cyclones  tore  down  the  trees,  or  made  the 
offas  and  animals  afraid.  If  it  rained,  it  never  rained 
too  much,  but  only  just  enough  to  water  the  ground 
and  make  the  grasses  grow  nicely,  and  to  keep  the 
plants  and  the  trees  fresh  and  green  in  their  verdure. 

Just  think  what  a  place  that  would  be  to  live  in! 


l  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

It  was  called,  as  you  know,  the  Garden  of  Eden.  And 
yet  no  man  had  seen  it.  All  that  beauty,  and  no  hu- 
man eye  to  look  upon  it  or  to  take  pleasure  in  it! 
When  all  was  ready  and  the  garden  was  made,  the 
Ruler  of  the  World  decided  that  he  would  make  a 
man  to  live  in  that  garden  and  to  take  care  of  it,  and 
to  have  it  all  for  his  own  beautiful  home.  This  man 
was  to  be  the  Gardener  of  Eden. 

And  so,  as  we  are  told,  the  Lord  took  some  dust  of 
the  ground  and  shaped  it  into  the  form  of  a  man. 
But  there  it  was,  that  form  with  no  life  in  it — as  yet 
only  the  dust  of  the  ground.  It  was  a  beautiful  form, 
fair  and  shapely.  And  then  what  do  you  suppose  he 
did?  Why,  as  we  are  told,  "He  breathed  into  his 
nostrils  the  breath  of  life,  and  man  became  a  living 
soul/'  And  the  man's  name,  as  you  know,  was  Adam. 

He  was  placed  there  all  alone  in  that  beautiful 
garden,  where  he  was  to  have  his  home.  Can  you 
fancy  anything  more  delightful  than  a  home  like  that 
garden,  all  made  for  you,  just  of  the  kind  that  you 
would  like,  with  every  possible  flower  or  tree  that  you 
could  think  of  or  care  for;  with  all  the  fruits  that 
you  might  care  to  look  at,  or  care  to  taste  of ;  and  to 
be  able  to  wander  there  as  you  pleased,  taking  what 
you  wanted,  doing  just  as  you  liked,  never  being 
obliged  to  work  too  hard,  only  just  to  have  the  care 
of  that  wonderful  garden!  But  the  Lord  of  the 
World  did  not  think  it  well  that  Adam  should  have 
his  own  way  altogether.  That  would  be  a  mistake. 
It  is  never  well  for  any  human  being  to  be  able  to  do 
exactly  as  he  pleases.  And  so  Adam  was  told  that 
he  might  eat  of  any  of  the  fruits  he  found  there,  from 
any  of  the  trees  anywhere,  save  the  fruit  of  just  one 
tree.  That  one  fruit  he  was  not  to  taste.  Adam 
might  look  at  it,  admire  it,  enjoy  the  beauty  of  it, 
but  he  was  not  to  taste  of  it.  This  was  just  what  the 
Lord  said  to  him,  if  you  would  like  to  know  the  exact 
words:  "Of  every  tree  of  the  Garden,  thou  mayest 
freely  eat;  but  of  the  Tree  of  Knowledge  of  Good 
and  Evil,  thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it." 

Surely  Adam  had  no  reason  to  complain.     What 


THE  EARLY  WORLD.  19 

should  it  matter  to  him  that  there  was  this  one  fruit 
he  was  never  to  taste  of?  Did  he  not  have  all  the 
other  fruits  that  he  could  desire,  many  kinds,  for  in- 
stance, sweeter  to  the  taste  than  any  we  may  have 
nowadays?  You  see  it  was  important  that  Adam 
should  learn  to  obey. 

But  by  and  by  Adam  began  to  be  a  little  unhappy. 
Can  you  guess  why?  "Because  he  could  not  taste 
that  fruit  of  the  Tree  of  Knowledge  of  Good  and 
Evil,"  do  you  say?  No,  not  at  all.  He  was  quite 
content  with  what  he  had.  He  may  have  wandered 
around  that  tree  and  looked  at  it  and  admired  it.  But 
he  was  satisfied  not  to  touch  it.  Yet  he  was  a 
little  unhappy.  It  was  because  he  was  all  alone  in 
that  garden.  Sometimes  it  seemed;  to  him  that  he 
would  rather  give  up  all  the  beauty  there  and  not  have 
that  garden  any  longer,  if  only  he  could  have  a  com- 
panion, some  one  to  live  with,  some  one  to  talk  to. 
There  were  times  when  he  wanted  to  point  out  to  some 
one  what  he  saw  and  what  he  liked;  times  when  he 
wanted  to  ask  advice  of  some  person  like  himself. 

At  last,  after  a  while,  the  Great  Ruler  took  pity  upon 
Adam,  and  thought  ft  best  to  give  him  a  companion, 
so  that  the  man  should  not  be  all  alone  by  himself  in 
that  beautiful  place.  But  first,  before  he  had  done 
this,  we  are  told  that  it  was  necessary  that  all  the 
birds  of  the  air  and  the  beasts  of  the  field  living  in 
that  garden  should  have  names.  And  so  they  were 
brought,  one  by  one,  to  Adam ;  and  Adam  gave  names 
to  them,  to  the  cattle,  the  fowls  of  the  air,  and  to 
every  beast  of  the  field.  But  still  he  was  all  alone. 

One  day,  however,  the  Lord  put  him  to  sleep;  and 
then,  as  we  are  told,  he  did  a  wonderful  thing.  He 
took  one  of  the  ribs  of  Adam,  closing  up  the  flesh 
again,  while  the  man  was  asleep,  and  out  of  that  rib 
he  fashioned  another  human  being.  And  what  kind 
of  a  human  being  do  you  suppose  it  was?  Would  it 
have  been  a  person  just  like  Adam,  do  you  fancy? 
"No,  of  course  not,"  you  say ;  "it  would  have  been  a 
woman."  Yes,  it  was  a  beautiful  woman.  And  when 
Adam  awoke  from  his  sleep,  there  before  his  eyes, 


2O  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

like  himself,  and  yet  not  like  himself,  stood  a  human 
being,  a  companion  for  him,  a  "helpmeet/'  as  the 
companion  was  called.  And  as  Adam  looked  upon 
her,  he  said :  "This  is  now  bone  of  my  bone  and  flesh 
of  my  flesh;  she  shall  be  called  woman."  And  her 
name,  as  you  know,  was  Eve. 

And  there  they  were,  Adam  and  Eve,  as  man  and 
wife.  Now  Adam  was  perfectly  happy.  He  had  a 
companion  and  a  wife.  They  could  work  together  by 
day  and  could  talk  together  of  what  they  saw.  In  the 
darkness  of  the  night  they  could  look  up  to  the  skies, 
gaze  at  the  stars  and  give  names  to  them,  if  they 
wanted  to ;  or  they  could  listen  to  the  breezes  blowing 
through  the  trees,  hear  the  animals  creeping  along 
quietly  through  the  woods,  because,  as  you  know,  ani- 
mals like  to  wander  about  at  night,  just  as  we  like  to 
wander  about  by  day. 

But  the  most  beautiful  part  of  it  all  was,  that  Adam 
and  Eve  were  both  perfectly  good;  they  had  never 
known  what  it  was  to  do  wrong.  They  did  not  even 
know  about  Evil.  Adam  had  told  his  wife  about  that 
Tree  of  Knowledge,  and  how  they  might  taste  of 
every  fruit  of  every  tree  in  that  garden,  but  were  to 
let  the  fruit  of  that  one  tree  alone.  And  they  were 
happy  and  they  obeyed  the  command  laid  upon  them. 

All  was  so  pure  and  so  innocent  in  those  days  that 
man  and  woman,  as  you  know,  did  not  even  wear  any 
clothes.  They  walked  about  just  as  they  had  been 
made  by  the  Ruler  of  the  World.  It  never  crossed 
their  minds  to  feel  any  sense  of  shame  because  they 
were  naked.  They  were  happy,  pure  and  innocent, 
thinking  to  themselves  how  they  would  go  on  there, 
year  after  year,  living  in  that  garden  forever  and 
ever  and  ever;  always  being  happy,  always  having 
what  they  wanted  to  eat,  never  being  obliged  to  work 
too  hard,  and  yet  having  plenty  to  do  to  keep  them 
busy.  They  did  not  know  what  it  was  to  be  idle  or 
wasteful  of  their  time*  They  just  worked,  but  never 
seemed  to  grow  tired. 

At  last,  however,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  something  hap- 
pened.    I  almost  dread  to  tell  you  about  it;  and  yet 


THE  EARLY  WORLD.  21 

it  must  be  told.  By  and  by  an  awful  shadow  fell  upon 
that  garden.  It  came  quite  suddenly,  and  all  was 
changed. 

One  day  while  Eve  was  wandering  alone  by  her- 
self, she  met  a  serpent.  We  are  told  how  in  those 
times  animals  could  talk;  and  while  Eve  was  looking 
about,  not  far  away  from  that  Tree  of  Knowledge  of 
Good  and  Evil,  the  fruit  of  which  she  was  never  to 
taste,  the  serpent  began  to  speak  to  her.  He  told 
her  how  happy  she  was  and  what  a  nice  thing  it  was 
to  be  able  to  do  exactly  as  one  pleased  all  the  while. 
And  she  felt  even  more  happy  thinking  of  it  as  the 
serpent  went  on  speaking. 

But  then  he  began  to  talk  in  another  way.  There 
was  a  slight  tone  of  pity  in  his  voice  as  he  looked 
toward  that  Tree  not  far  away,  and  said,  "Yes,  but 
then  you  cannot  quite  have  your  own  way.  You 
must  not  taste  of  that  tree  over  there."  And  as  Eve 
looked  at  the  tree,  for  the  first  time  a  desire  entered 
her  heart  to  taste  of  its  fruit.  She  had  never  even 
thought  of  it  before  or  cared  anything  about  it;  until 
this  serpent  had  looked  upon  her  with  slight  pity,  be- 
cause she  could  not  do  altogether  as  she  pleased, 
since  it  was  necessary  for  her  to  obey  one  command. 

And  as  she  looked  at  the  Tree,  a  change  came  over 
her  face.  It  was  just  as  if  a  sort  of  shadow  fell  from 
the  sky,  a  thin  cloud  passing  over  the  face  of  the  sun. 
She  was  not  quite  happy;  and  she  said  to  herself: 
"Well,  after  all,  I  do  wish  I  might  taste  of  the  fruit 
of  that  one  tree."  And  she  grew  more  and  more  un- 
happy as  she  went  on  thinking  about  it.  It  seeme'd 
to  her  as  if  she  did  not  care  to  taste  of  the  fruits  of 
any  other  of  the  trees  of  the  garden.  There  were 
still  oranges  and  apples  and  plums  and  pears  and 
pomegranates;  there  were  all  kinds  of  grapes — any- 
thing and  everything  almost,,  that  she  cared  for.  But 
somehow  when  she  thought  of  these,  no  pleasure  came 
to  her.  She  just  wanted  to  taste  of  the  fruit  of  that 
Forbidden  Tree. 

Then  the  serpent  went  on  talking  to  her  still  more; 
and  he  said  to  her :  "Why  do  you  feel  that  you  should 


22  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

obey  such  a  command  not  to  taste  of  the  fruit  of  that 
Tree  there  before  you  ?  If  you  once  taste  of  that  fruit, 
you  will  become  wise,  you  will  become  like  your  Lord 
himself,  the  Ruler  of  the  World.  He  has  forbidden 
you  to  taste  that  fruit,  lest  you  become  as  great  as  he 
is.  If  you  eat  of  that  fruit,  then  you  will  know  what 
Good  and  Evil  are;  you  will  know  about  Right  and 
Wrong." 

Now,  as  we  have  said,  Adam  and  Eve  knew  noth- 
ing about  Right  and  Wrong ;  they  had  never  done  any- 
thing evil;  they  did  not  even  know  what  such  words 
meant.  But  Eve  went  on  thinking  more  and  more; 
and  she  said  to  herself,  "I  would  like  to  know  what 
Good  and  Evil  are;  what  is  meant  by  Right  and 
Wrong."  And  as  she  thought  this,  she  drew  nearer 
and  nearer  to  that  Tree  of  Knowledge,  until  she  came 
quite  close  to  it  and  looked  into  the  branches,  and  saw 
how  they  were  laden  with  a  fruit  whose  color  was 
more  beautiful  than  the  color  of  any  other  fruit  in 
the  Garden.  But  even  as  she  thought  of  the  com- 
mand upon  her,  she  reached  her  hand  into  the  branches 
of  that  tree  and  plucked  the  fruit  and  held  it  and 
looked  at  it ;  and  then  she  put  it  nearer  and  nearer  to 
her  mouth  and  at  last  she  tasted  it. 

Do  you  see  what  had  happened?  Can  you  fancy 
the  awful  shadow  which  must  have  fallen  upon  the 
garden  at  that  moment?  Those  two  people  might 
have  stayed  there  forever  and  ever,  always  innocent 
and  happy,  if  only  Eve  had  not  tasted  the  Fruit  of 
that  Tree.  And  then  what  do  you  suppose  she  did? 
At  first  the  fruit  had  seemed  sweet  to  her,  and  she  had 
liked  it.  For  a  moment  her  heart's  desire  was  satis- 
fied. She  had  done  just  what  she  pleased.  She  felt 
perfectly  free  and  no  longer  obliged  to  obey.  Then 
she  rushed  to  find  Adam  and  told  him  what  she  had 
done,  and  gave  him  some  of  the  fruit  to  eat.  And  he 
took  it  and  began  also  to  eat  of  that  Tree  of  Knowl- 
edge of  Good  and  Evil. 

They  had  done  it  at  last.  They  had  broken  the 
command.  They  had  disobeyed.  They  knew  now 
what  was  meant  by  Right  and  Wrong,  because  they 


THE  EARLY  WORLD.  2^ 

had  done  wrong  themselves.  Then  all  of  a  sudden, 
for  the  first  time  since  their  eyes  had  opened  on  that 
beautiful  garden  when  the  breath  of  life  had  been 
breathed  into  them  and  they  had  become  living  souls, 
it  came  into  their  minds  that  they  had  no  clothes  on, 
that  they  were  naked, — so  that  they  felt  ashamed.  But 
do  you  suppose  this  shame  was  felt  because  they  had 
no  clothes  ?  No,  I  fancy  it  was  a  shame  because  they 
'had  broken  the  command  of  their  Lord ;  because  they 
had  disobeyed.  And  they  wanted  to  get  rid  of  that 
shame,  if  they  only  knew  how ;  and  so  they  went  and 
gathered  some  large  fig  leaves,  and  sewed  them  to- 
gether and  made  aprons  or  garments  for  themselves, 
and  put  them  on,  in  order  that  they  might  be  rid  of 
that  feeling  of  shame  in  their  hearts. 

But  for  some  reason  the  feeling  of  shame  did  not 
go  away.  Now  for  the  first  time  they  were  afraid  to 
meet  their  Master,  who  had  placed  them  there.  Here- 
tofore, whenever  they  had  met  him,  they  were  glad 
to  talk  with  him  as  their  Ruler;  as  the  one  who  had 
given  them  this  garden,  and  breathed!  into  them  the 
breath  of  life.  And  so  they  went  and  hid  themselves, 
where  the  trees  were  thick  in  a  corner  of  the  garden, 
in  order  that  the  Ruler  of  the  World  might  not  see 
them.  All  the  pleasure  seemed  to  have  gone  out  of 
their  lives.  The  delight  which  they  had  first  felt  in 
taking  of  that  forbidden  fruit,  had  all  gone  away.  It 
was  no  longer  a  pleasure  to  them  to  feel  that  they  had 
done  just  what  they  pleased. 

And  now,  towards  evening,  the  Lord,  their  Ruler, 
came  to  the  garden  to  talk  with  Adam  and  Eve.  Bui 
he  could  not  see  them  anywhere.  And  at  last  he 
called  out  to  Adam,  saying :  "Where  art  thou  ?"  And 
the  sound  of  the  voice  went  traveling  over  the  Garden, 
under  the  trees,  along  the  edge  of  the  grasses;  the 
animals  heard  it,  and  the  birds;  even  the  leaves  of 
the  trees  seemed  to  be  quiet  just  then.  And  the  voice 
came  to  Adam  and  Eve  in  their  hiding  place.  They 
knew  that  they  dared  not  stay  there  any  longer.  They 
had  to  come  forth. 

And  then  Adam  sp°ke>  saying:  "J  heard  thy  voice. 


24  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

in  the  garden  andl  I  was  afraid,  because  I  was  naked, 
and  I  hid  myself.5>  And  his  Master  looked  him 
straight  in  the  eyes,  seeming  to  look  way  beyond  into 
his  very  soul,  as  he  asked  him:  "Who  told  thee  that 
thou  wast  naked?  Hast  thou  eaten  of  that  Tree 
whereof  I  commanded  thee  that  thou  shouldst  not 
eat?"  And  what  sort  of  an  answer  do  you  suppose 
Adam  gave?  Did  he  stand  forth  like  a  brave  man 
and  say,  "Yes,  I  did  eat  of  that  Tree  of  Knowledge"  ? 
Where  was  the  courage  which  he  and  Eve  had  always 
felt  in  that  beautiful  garden?  No,  they  knew  now 
what  evil  was.  Adam  no  longer  was  the  brave,  strong, 
fearless  man  he  used  to  be.  He  had  become  a  coward. 
And  he  turned  and  said,  "The  woman  whom  thou 
gavest  me,  she  gave  me  of  the  Tree  and  I  did  eat." 
Can  you  fancy  the  expression  on  the  face  of  Adam  as 
he  made  that  speech?  Was  this  the  man  who  had 
been  so  happy  and  so  pure  in  that  beautiful  garden? 
Just  think  of  the  meanness  of  it  all,  that  he  should 
have  turned  and  tried  to  lay  the  blame  for  it  on  his 
wife. 

But  there  was  no  use  trying  to  escape  from  the  one 
who  had  placed  them*  there.  Their  Ruler  turned  to 
the  woman  and  said,  "What  is  this  thou  hast  done?" 
And  Eve  answered,  "The  serpent  did  beguile  me  and 
I  did!  eat."  Thus  you  see,  they  had  both  become 
cowards;  they  had  done  the  evil  in  order  that  they 
might  feel  that  they  could  do  exactly  as  they  pleased. 
And  now  they  could  do  much  less  as  they  pleased 
than  before.  They  knew  what  it  was  to  be  afraid. 
All  the  pleasures  of  life  seemed  gone  for  them. 

The  garden  was  there  still,  the  beautiful  Garden,  of 
Eden!  The  noise  of  the  waters  of  the  brooks  flow- 
ing in  and  out  among  the  trees  could  still  be  heard; 
the  birds  sang  just  as  sweetly  and  their  plumage  car- 
ried the  same  beautiful  colors  as  before.  There  was 
the  sky  overhead  and  the  shining  stars  by  night.  Soft 
breezes  blew  in  and  out  among  the  trees.  It  was  still 
the  same  beautiful  garden. 

But  to  Adam  and  Eve  it  had  all  changed.  They 
knew  well  enough  that  they  had  no  right  there  any 


THE  EARLY  WORLD.  25 

more;  that  it  was  no  longer  truly  their  home.  They 
felt  only  too  plainly  that  they  would  have  to  go  forth 
and  leave  that  garden.  They  did  not  have  to  wait  for 
what  would  be  said  to  them;  in  their  hearts  they  un- 
derstood. They  knew  well  enough  that  that  .garden 
was  no  place  for  people  who  had  done  wrong  and 
felt  ashamed. 

And  so  at  last  came  the  awful  words  of  their  Lord. 
They  listened,  bowed  down  almost  to  the  earth,  as  he 
spoke:  "Cursed  is  the  ground  for  thy  sake;  in  toil 
shalt  thou  eat  of  it  all  the  days  of  thy  life ;  thorns  also 
and  thistles  shall  it  bring  forth  to  thee,  and  thou  shalt 
eat  the  herb  of  the  field ;  in  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt 
thou  eat  bread."  And  as  these  words  were  spoken, 
Adam  and  Eve  looked  away,  and  there  stood  the  gates 
of  the  garden  open  before  them.  They  knew  what 
the  open  gates  meant;  they  were  to  be  cast  out  from 
that  beautiful  home,  to  go  forth  to  toil  and  suffer, 
Decause  they  had  'done  evil  and  had  learned  what 
Right  and  Wrong  really  meant. 

They  dared  not  look  their  Ruler  in  the  face.  Turn- 
ing away,  hand  in  hand,  they  walked  along  until 
they  came  to  the  gate;  then  they  gave  one  last  look 
behind  at  that  beautiful  home  where  they  had  fancied 
they  were  to  live  forever  and  ever  and  ever.  And  as 
a  cloud  passed  over  the  face  of  the  sun  and  the 
shadow  fell  before  them,  they  walked  out  through  the 
gate,  to  return  there  no  more.  As  it  all  closed  be- 
hind them  there  was  placed  at  the  east  end  of  the 
garden  a  flaming  sword,  warning  Adam  and  Eve  that 
they  were  never  to  enter  there  again.  These  two  peo- 
ple had  learned  what  it  meant  to  listen  to  the  voice 
of  temptation  and  to  disobey. 

To  THE  TEACHER:  The  Story  of  the  Garden 
of  Eden  is  essentially  a  lesson  in  the  steps  which  a 
person  may  take  when  yielding  to  temptation.  Each 
one  of  these  steps  should  therefore  be  carefully  con- 
sidered as  they  come  out  in  the  narrative.  Point  out 
how  Eve  could  have  conquered  the  bad  inclination,  if 
she  had  refused  to  think  about  it  and  checked  the  evil 
desire  at  the  start.  As  a  second  feature,  dwell  on  the 


26  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

effects  of  yielding  to  the  suggestion  of  the  Tempter, 
especially  as  those  effects  manifested  themselves  at 
once  in  the  change  of  character  on  the  part  of  Eve; 
how  selfishness  at  once  showed  itself  in  the  wish  to 
have  a  companion  in  guilt,  in  spite  of  the  dreadful 
consequences  which  might  ensue.  We  see  the  affec- 
tion between  Adam  and  Eve  giving  way  to  petty  re- 
crimination or  thoughtless  disregard  of  each  other's 
welfare,  as  they  try  to  shirk  the  blame  for  what  they 
had  done.  Emphasize  special  phrases  or  terms  which 
have  become  fixed  in  human  speech,  as,  for  instance, 
the  Tree  of  Knowledge,  the  Flaming  Sword,  etc. 

MEMORY  VERSES:  He  breathed  into  his  nos- 
trils the  breath  of  life,  and  man  became  a  living  soul. 

Who  told  thee  that  thou  wast  naked?  Hast  thou 
eaten  of  that  tree  whereof  I  commanded  thee  that  thou 
shouldst  not  eat? 

Cursed  is  the  ground  for  thy  sake.  In  the  sweat 
of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread. 


CHAPTER  II. 
The  Murder  of  Abel. 

We  come  now  to  another  kind  of  story.  I  have  to 
tell  you  about  two  brothers  in  that  far  away  time, 
thousands  and  thousands  of  years  ago,  not  long  after 
Adam  and  Eve  had  been  cast  out  of  the  Garden  of 
Eden.  The  entire  earth  was  before  these  two*  people 
— Adam  and  Eve.  There  was  room  enough  and  to 
spare.  The  whole  country  was  there  for  them  to 
travel  over;  only  now  they  knew  what  it  was  to  be 
tired.  For  at  last  they  understood  what  it  meant  to 
be  obliged  to  work  harder  than  they  ever  worked  be- 
fore ;  to  go  on  toiling  when  they  needed  rest.  They 
knew  now  what  it  was,  at  times,  to  be  hungry  and  not 
have  enough  to  eat.  They  were  only  too  glad  to  get 
anything  they  could  find,  even  if  it  were  not  sweet  to 
the  taste. 

We  can  imagine  how  they  must  have  talked  together 
of  that  garden ;  at  times  perhaps  they  went  back  near 
the  gates,  longing  to  enter  there  once  more,  until  they 
saw  the  flame  of  the  sword  and  knew  that  it  was  hope- 
less. They  must  have  talked  of  the  evil  they  had 
been  guilty  of,  and  kept  wishing  and  wishing  they  had 
not  done  it.  But  it  was  too  late.  The  only  thing  left 
for  them  now  to  do,  was  to  go  forth  and  earn  their 
bread  in  the  sweat  of  their  faces,  as  the  Lord  had 
said  to  them. 

And  by  and  by  there  was  a  larger  home.  Children 
came  and  were  growing  up  around  them;  sons  and 
daughters  who  had  never  been  in  the  Garden  of  Eden, 
and  may  have  known  little  about  it, — because,  I  fancy, 
even  the  father  and.  mother  no  longer  liked  to  talk 
about  it  in  the  presence  of  their  children.  It  was  all 
different  now.  They  were  clothed  somewhat  as  we 
wear  clothes  nowadays. 

37 


28  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

After  a  while  two  of  their  sons  grew  up  into  man- 
hood. They  were  strong  fellows,  and  brave  in  their 
ways.  They  had  been  obliged  to  work  hard  in  order 
to  help  their  father  and  mother  to  earn  their  living,  in 
getting  enough  to  eat  and  in  providing  for  the  needs 
at  home.  They  knew  what  it  was  to  feel  the  chill  of 
the  cold  and  to  suffer  from  the  heat.  They  sighed  for 
the  rays  of  the  sun  in  the  night  time,  and  shrank  from 
its  rays  by  day.  And  yet  some  happiness  was  coming 
back  to  the  father  and  mother  in  the  delight  they  felt 
in  their  home  and  their  children.  Even  if  there  was 
trouble  for  them  now,  and  hard  work,  hunger  and 
cold,  yet  they  had  their  home  and  their  little  ones. 
And  I  suppose  they  were  hoping  that  their  sons  and 
daughters  would!  grow  up  into  manhood  or  into 
womanhood,  and  be  brave  and  good  and  not  be  guilty 
of  wrong  in  the  way  they  had  been  guilty  themselves. 

Now  and  then  they  were  still  aware  of  the  presence 
of  their  Lord,  the  Ruler  of  the  World.  If  he  laid  any 
commands  upon  them,  they  tried  hard  enough  not  to 
disobey.  And  they  hoped  that  their  little  ones  would 
learn  the  commands  laid  upon  them  and  not  always 
expect  to  do  just  as  they  pleased.  Can  you  fancy 
what  sort  of  a  home  they  must  have  had — Adam  and 
Eve  and  their  children — when  there  were  no  other 
people  on  the  earth?  They  had  to  take  care  of  them- 
selves in  all  sorts  of  ways;  make  their  own  clothes; 
build  their  own  homes ;  prepare  their  own  food.  Not 
only  that,  but  there  were  dangers  all  around  them. 
They  knew  now  what  it  was  to  be  afraid  in  the  dark, 
as  the  wild  animals  went  roaming  by. 

But  still  they  wanted  to  keep  the  friendship  of  their 
Great  Master,  even  if  he  had  cast  them  out  of  the 
beautiful  Garden  of  Eden.  They  knew  they  had  been 
to  blame,  because  they  had  disobeyed.  And  in  those 
times,  as  you  know,  they  used  to  think  that  the  way  to 
please  their  Ruler  who  had  made  them  was  to  build 
altars  and  make  offerings  there  They  wanted  to 
show  their  readiness  to  give  up  their  wilfulness  and 
to  obey.  They  had  had  enough  of  doing  just  alto- 
gether as  they  pleased,  and  they  were  only  too  anxious 


THE  EARLY  WORLD.  29 

to  prove  that  they  knew  how  to  give  up  what  they 
cared  for,  and  to  make  "sacrifices,"  as  we  say.  Arid 
so  they  would  build  an  altar  of  stone  and  afterwards 
bring  offerings  there  from  time  to  time;  it  might  be 
the  fruits  which  they  had  gathered;  it  might  be  what 
they  had  taken  from  the  soil  which  they  had  tilled; 
or  it  might  be  from  their  flocks  or  herds,  the  sheep  or 
cattle  which  they  owned. 

I  am  telling  you  all  this  because  it  belongs  to  the 
story  of  those  two  brothers,  one  of  them  named  Cain 
and  the  other,  Abel.  They  were  not  alike,  because 
people  are  never  alike.  Each  person  has  his  own  na- 
ture, his  own  way  of  doing  things,  his  own  feelings, 
his  own  character.  Then,  too,  some  persons  behave 
in  one  way,  and  others  in  another,  as  you  know.  Some 
people  will  get  angry,  but  control  themselves  and  not 
speak;  others  will  get  angry  and  speak  it  out  and 
hurt  people's  feelings.  Some  have  more  bad  feelings 
than  others.  There  is  no  way  of  telling  quite  what  a 
boy  or  girl  is  going  to  be.  It  all  depends  so  much  on 
themselves. 

And  these  two  boys,  as  we  have  said,  were  not  at 
all  alike.  They  were  not  bad,  exactly;  but  one  of 
them  was  given  to  getting  angry  every  now  and  then. 
It  may  be  that  both  of  them  had  these  feelings  at 
times ;  but  if  so,  the  one  whose  name  was  Abel  some- 
how kept  his  feelings  to  himself  and  did  not  allow 
them  to  control  him.  When  something  went  wrong 
and  he  felt  like  using  wicked  language,  or  striking 
some  one  against  whom  he  was  angry,  he  would  go 
away  by  himself,  perhaps,  until  the  feeling  within  him 
had  quieted  down.  And  as  he  grew  older,  he  found 
that  the  feeling  of  anger  did  not  come  to  him  as  often ; 
or,  if  it  did  come,  it  was  easier  and  easier  for  him  to 
control  it, — so  that  he  did  not  say  the  evil  words  on 
his  lips  or  act  in  the  way  he  first  felt  inclined  to  do. 

But  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  it  was  otherwise  with 
Cain,  the  other  brother.  As  I  have  said,  he  was  not 
what  you  would  call  quite  a  bad  boy.  He  was  gen- 
erous and  brave,  and  his  father  and  mother  were  very 
fond  of  him.  They  knew  that  he  was  not  selfish  and 


30  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIfiLE  STORIES. 

that  he  was  not  mean.  Then,  too,  he  worked  hard  in 
order  to  help  the  family,  and  was  never  idle.  But  he 
had  the  bad  habit  of  losing  his  temper,  and  the  father 
and  mother  were  sorry  over  this  and  tried  to  do  all 
they  could  to  persuade  their  boy  to  learn  self-control. 
But  he  did  not  seem  to  care.  "What  if  I  do  get 
angry,"  he  said  to  himself,  "I  get  over  it  by  and  by, 
and  they  cannot  say  I  am  mean  or  selfish  or  do  not 
work.  Even  if  I  hurt  their  feelings,  I  may  ask  them 
to  forgive  me;  and  they  seem  to  love  me  just  the 
same." 

Yet  he  knew  this  was  not  all  quite  true.  He  was 
aware  of  the  pain  he  gave  in  his  home.  It  was  just 
that  he  would  not  take  the  trouble  to  try  to  conquer 
himself.  All  the  while,  Adam  and  Eve  were  think- 
ing of  what  they  had  done,  themselves,  in  the  garden 
of  Eden,  and  how  they  had  yielded  to  temptation  and 
at  last  been  guilty  of  disobedience  and  had  done  wrong. 
They  did  not  want  to  talk  of  this  to  their  boys;  but 
it  was  always  on  their  minds  lest  this  boy,  by  and  by, 
should  yield  to  some  temptation,  and  before  he  knew 
it,  do  something  awfully  bad,  as  they  had  done. 

As  the  boys  grew  up,  the  father  had  made  Cain  a 
tiller  of  the  ground,  because,  I  suppose,  Cain  was 
strong  and  worked  so  well.  On  the  other  hand,  he 
had  made  Abel  a  keeper  of  sheep.  This  lad  was  to 
tend  the  flocks,  staying  with  them  by  night  and  by 
day,  watching  and  caring  for  them,  living  outdoors 
in  the  open  country,  and  being  a  shepherd. 

These  boys  had  been  taught  by  their  father  and 
mother  that  they  must  respect  their  Lord,  the  one  who 
had  made  that  beautiful  Garden  of  Eden  of  which  the 
children  had  been  told.  And  so  from  time  to  time 
they  made  their  offerings  on  the  altar  built  by  Adam 
and  Eve.  Now,  their  father  and  mother  had  told  the 
boys  when  they  grew  up,  that  for  some  reason  they 
should  make  these  offerings  from  the  flocks  of  sheep, 
and  not  from  the  fruits  of  the  ground.  They  gave  no 
reason  why;  they  simply  told  the  boys  to  do  this  and 
to  obey.  It  may  be  that  Adam  and  Eve  wanted  in  this 
way  to  teach  Cain  how  to  control  himself  and  to  learn 
to  "give  in." 


THE  EARLY  WORLD.  31 

But  as  the  two  boys  grew  up  to  manhood,  Cain  being 
a  tiller  of  the  soil,  as  you  remember,  it  somehow  rankled 
in  his  mind  that  it  was  not  fair  that  the  offerings  on 
the  altar  should  be  from  the  flocks  of  sheep,  when  he 
had  no  sheep  and  was  a  tiller  of  the  soil.  He  did  not 
say  anything  about  this  or  talk  it  over  with  his  mother 
or  father,  or  ask  the  reason  for  it.  He  just  kept  brood- 
ing over  it  and  got  more  and  more  worked  up,  until 
finally  he  made  up  his  mind  that  he  was  not  going  to 
stand  it  any  longer.  He  said  to  himself,  "I  will  do  as 
I  please.  If  I  am  a  tiller  of  the  soil,  I  will  make  my 
offerings  from  the  fruits  of  the  soil,  and  Abel  can  make 
his  offerings  from  his  flocks  as  a  shepherd." 

It  was  awfully  sad,  when  we  come  to  think  of  it,  that 
the  father  and  mother  knew  nothing  of  all  this.  They 
had  hoped  in  this  way  to  teach  their  boy  self-command. 
Now  it  was  all  working  the  other  way.  At  last,  Cain 
went  to  the  altar  and  laid  on  it  the  fruits  of  the  earth. 
He  knew  down  in  his  heart  that  it  was  not  a  true 
offering.  He  was  well  aware  that  it  was  make-believe. 
But  it  was  all  the  same  to  him;  he  was  going  to  do 
just  as  he  pleased.  All  the  while,  however,  he  was 
angry  in  his  heart.  We  can  imagine  him  as  he  must 
have  gone  around  in  those  days,  thinking  within  him- 
self how  he  would  do  just  as  he  pleased  and  make  his 
offering  in  his  own  way.  On  the  other  hand,  Abel,  who 
had  gradually  learned  how  to  control  himself  and  to 
obey,  had  gone  and  made  his  offering  from  his  sheep 
by  sacrificing  one  of  them  on  the  altar. 

By  and  by  Cain  came  back  to  the  altar  and  saw  the 
offerings  there.  He  knew  perfectly  well  that  he  had 
done  wrong;  that  he  had  acted  in  a  spirit  of  anger; 
that  what  he  had  placed  there  was  not  the  true  offering 
at  all.  It  was  not  the  kind  he  had  been  commanded  to 
make.  At  the  same  time  he  saw  there  on  the  altar  the 
offering  of  Abel,  his  brother,  and  he  knew  that  Abel 
had  done  what  was  right.  Then,  somehow,  he  began 
to  feel  jealous  and  grew  more  and  more  angry.  In- 
stead of  going  and  changing  his  offering,  as  he  ought 
to  have  done,  he  went  out  and  sought  his  brother  and 
found  him  among  the  flocks  not  far  away. 


32  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

And  then  he  poured  out  all  the  angry  feelings  in 
his  heart;  he  was  jealous  and  he  expressed  his  dislike 
very  strongly,  although  all  the  while  being  really 
ashamed  and  feeling  mean  because  he  knew  he  him- 
self was  really  to  blame.  Then,  all  of  a  sudden,  he 
struck  Abel  a  blow,  and  his  brother  fell  to  the  ground. 
He  looked  and  saw  his  brother  lying  there  perfectly 
still;  he  leaned  over;  there  was  no  sign  of  life.  It 
was  Abel,  his  brother — his  own  brother  Abel!  And 
as  he  looked,  all  the  anger  in  his  heart  began  to  melt 
away,  and  he  grew  pale.  He  watched  the  still  face; 
but  there  was  no  sign  of  life.  He  stared  at  the  great 
dark  spot  there  on  the  white  face  where  he  had  struck 
the  blow;  and  at  last  it  dawned  on  his  mind  what  he 
had  done.  In  his  anger  he  had  killed  his  own  brother 
Abel! 

Then  he  arose  from  his  knees,  knowing  that  he  had 
been  guilty  of  murder.  He  looked  around  him ;  there 
was  nobody  by.  He  looked  up  into  the  sky  as  if  he 
feared  some  one  there.  But  the  sky  was  empty;  he 
saw  only  the  blue  dome  overhead.  He  heard  a  sound 
as  if  some  one  were  coming  nearer ;  but  it  was  only  the 
sound  of  the  sheep  near  by.  He  put  his  hand  to  his 
forehead  and  it  was  cold  and  moist  to  the  touch, 
although  the  bright,  clear,  warm  sun  was  shining 
everhead. 

Then  he  looked  down  again  at  his  brother.  Still 
Abel  did  not  move.  And  Cain  began  to  tremble ;  he 
was  shaking  from  head  to  foot.  He  reached  out  his 
arms  as  if  to  take  hold  of  something  to  help  him ;  but 
there  was  nothing  for  him  to  take  hold  of.  There  he 
was,  alone  with  the  body  of  his  brother  whom  he  had 
murdered.  Then,  at  last,  he  too  understood  what  it  was 
to  have  been  guilty  of  evil.  Sad  for  him  it  was  that 
he  had  not  known  or  understood  all  the  while  in  his 
earlier  days  whenever  he  had  given  way  to  anger,  that 
it  would  bring  him  to  worse  evil  at  last,  great  and  bit- 
ter evil.  Whenever  he  had  lost  his  temper  he  had  been 
guilty  of  evil.  But,  as  we  have  said,  he  had  always 
overlooked  that.  And  when  the  anger  was  gone,  he 
had  behaved  kindly,  even  bravely  and  unselfishly  in  the 


f  llE  EARLY  WORLD.  33 

home,  so  that  it  had  never  even  crossed  his  mind  that 
he  would  at  last  strike  his  brother  in  this  way. 

What  was  he  to  do?  He  looked  down  again,  and 
then  looked  around  him  once  more.  He  did  not  know 
how  to  act.  Suddenly  he  said  to  himself:  "I  must 
fly.  I  shall  be  punished.  I  have  been  guilty  of  mur- 
der." And  he  started  to  run,  and  went  on  running  and 
running  for  dear  life,  as  if  he  would  run  on  in  that 
way  forever.  He  wanted  to  get  away  from  himseii- — 
get  away  from  the  thought  of  what  he  had  done.  At 
last,  when  he  could  run  no  more,  he  stopped  and  stood 
still.  It  was  no  use.  He  had  done  it.  There  was  no 
getting  away  from  that  awful  deed.  Then  all  at  once 
he  thought  he  heard  a  voice,  as  if  it  were  the  voice  of 
the  Lord,  the  Ruler  of  the  World,  saying  to  him: 
"Where  is  Abel,  thy  brother  ?" 

Can  you  fancy  the  feelings  of  Cain  at  this  moment? 
Can  you  imagine  that  frightened  expression  as  he  stood 
there  staring  into>  space,  listening  to  those  awful  words  ? 
And  how  do  you  suppose  he  would  answer?  He  had 
been  brave,  heretofore ;  he  had  not  known  before  what 
it  was  to  be  afraid.  His  father  and  mother  had  ad- 
mired him  for  his  courage.  They  knew  he  could  always 
take  care  of  himself,  and,  if  need  be,  take  care  of  them. 
It  seemed  almost  at  times  as  if  the  wild  animals  them- 
selves were  afraid  of  him,  so  fearless  he  was,  so  daring ! 

But  at  this  moment  he  felt  that  if  some  one  were 
to  just  touch  him  with  a  ringer,  he  would  drop.  As 
he  heard  those  words,  fear  stole  over  him  as  it  had 
stolen  over  his  father  and  mother  in  the  Garden  of 
Eden;  and  he  told  a  lie,  saying:  "I  know  not — am  I 
my  brother's  keeper?"  Then  for  a  moment  he  was  at 
peace.  He  felt  himself  safe.  In  former  times  it  had 
never  quite  crossed  his  mind  that  he  could  escape  from 
danger  through  a  lie ;  but  at  this  moment  it  seemed  to 
him  the  easiest  thing-  in  the  world.  All  he  thought  he 
had  to  do  was  just  to  deceive  and  he  would  be  safe. 
But  this  feeling  of  security  did  not  last  long.  He 
did  not  have  to  wait  for  the  reply  of  that  voice  to  what 
he  had  said.  His  heart  sank  within  him ;  for  he  knew 
then  that  even  if  he  had  told  a  lie,  he  could  not  make 


34  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

it  as  if  he  had  not  been  a  murderer.  It  was  just  as  if 
something  within  himself  spoke,  as  he  heard  a  voice 
saying  to  him  again:  "What  hast  thou  done?  The 
voice  of  thy  brother's  blood  crieth  unto  me  from  the 
ground." 

It  was  an  awful  moment  for  poor  Cain.  At  first  I 
suppose  we  should  have  had  a  feeling  of  horror  in 
regard  to  him;  he  had  been  guilty  of  such  an  awful 
crime ;  he  had  slain  his  brother !  Yet  now,  at  the 
moment  when  he  heard  that  voice,  I  fancy  we  should 
have  pitied  him.  We  too  might  shrink  from  the  curse 
which  followed,  as  that  voice  continued :  "And  now, 
cursed  art  thou  from  the  ground  which  hath  opened 
her  mouth  and  received  thy  brother's  blood  from  thy 
hand;  when  thou  tillest  the  ground,  it  shall  not  hence- 
forth yield  unto  thee  its  strength;  a  fugitive  and  a 
wanderer  shalt  thou  be  in  the  earth." 

And  Cain,  as  he  heard  these  words,  fell  to  the 
ground.  He  was  no  longer  able  even  to  stand.  There 
was  no  hope  ahead  for  him.  Everything  was  black  and 
desolate  and  dreary;  nobody  to  care  for  him;  nobody 
to  love  him !  He  feared  that  even  his  own  father  and 
mother  would  cast  him  out.  If  he  met  his  other  broth- 
ers anywhere  else,  they  would  look  upon  him  with 
loathing;  yes,  they  might  even  turn  and  kill  him.  He 
felt  that  they  would  not  want  to  have  him  alive  on  the 
face  of  the  earth.  He  saw  himself  wandering  every- 
where, trying  to  hide  from  any  one  who  might  see 
him.  The  thought  of  always  being  obliged  to  hide  and 
to  shun  the  faces  of  his  brothers  and  to  live  alone,  an 
outcast,  was  more  than  he  could  stand,  and  he  cried 
out :  "My  punishment  is  greater  than  I  can  bear.  Be- 
hold, thou  hast  driven  me  out  this  day  from  the  face 
of  the  ground,  and  I  shall  be  a  fugitive  and  a  wanderer 
in  the  earth;  and  it  shall  come  to  pass  that  if  any  of 
my  brothers  find  me,  they  shall  slay  me." 

But  no;  the  Lord  did  not  wish  that  Cain  should  be 
put  to  death.  Hence  a  sign  was  put  upon  Cain  that 
he  was  to  wear  wherever  he  had  to  go,  directing  that 
no  man  should  lay  hands  on  him,  that  his  life  should 
be  spared.  And  Cain  rose  up  once  more  as  bravely  as 


THE  EARLY  WORLD.  35 

he  knew  how,  though  not  the  same  brave  man  he  had 
been  before.  And  he  went  forth  alone, 'away  from  his 
home,  into  another  part  of  the  country,  where  he  might 
no  longer  have  to  look  upon  the  faces  of  his  father  and 
mother.  He  knew  that  his  deed  of  evil  would  follow 
him  just  the  same.  But  he  wanted  to  spare  his  home 
from  the  shame  of  his  crime. 

To  THE  TEACHER:  In  this  narrative  we  have 
presented  to  us  the  consequences  following  upon  the 
disregard  of  the  most  elemental  of  all  duties:  The 
respect  for  human  life.  It  kindles  at  once  a  feeling  of 
horror  for  murder  as  a  crime  and  gives  to  the  young 
mind  a  keen  appreciation  of  what  "wickedness"  means. 
It  serves  by  this  means  to  awaken  the  latent  conscience 
of  the  child  in  leading  him  to  pass  ethical  judgments 
on  human  conduct.  Then  too  the  story  can  also  be  used 
to  emphasize  the  sanctity  of  the  family  tie  in  one's 
horror  for  the  double  crime  of  brother-murder.  On 
the  other  hand  the  lesson  involves  a  study  in  the  lesson 
of  self-control,  showing  to  what  appalling  results  the 
want  of  such  control  may  lead,  if  one  does  not  have  a 
guard  upon  one's  self.  Keep  also  in  mind  the  way  in 
which  the  father  and  mother  were  involved  in  all  these 
consequences  because  of  their  disobedience  in  the  Gar- 
den of  Eden.  Show  a  picture  of  a  possible  "altar,"  so 
as  to  give  some  conception  of  what  the  word  implies. 

MEMORY  VERSES:  What  hast  thou  done?  The 
voice  of  thy  brother's  blood  crieth  unto  me  from  the 
ground. 

And  now  cursed  art  thou  from  the  ground  which  hath 
opened  her  mouth  and  received  thy  brother's  blood  from 
thy  hand;  a  fugitive  and  a  wanderer  shalt  thou  be  in 
the  earth. 


CHAPTER  III. 
Noah  and  the  Flood. 

It  was  a  good  many  hundred  years  after  the  time 
when  Cain  had  been  sent  as  a  wanderer  over  the  face 
of  the  earth  for  the  murder  of  his  brother  Abel.  At 
that  day  there  were  only  a  few  people.  But  now  I 
suppose  there  had  come  to  be  hundreds  of  thousands, 
if  not  millions,  of  men,  women  and  children.  It  may 
be  that  the  Ruler  of  the  World  had  made  more  men 
and  women,  breathing  into  their  nostrils  the  Breath  of 
Life.  At  any  rate,  there  they  were — no  longer  just 
one  family,  Adam  and  Eve,  with  their  children;  but 
hundreds  of  thousands,  or  millions,  maybe,  of  people 
or  families. 

Perhaps  it  was  a  thousand  years  after  Adam  and 
Eve  had  been  shut  out  of  the  Garden  of  Eden  and  the 
Sword  of  Flame  had  been  placed  at  the  gateway.  But 
I  am  sorry  to  say  that  the  punishment  for  the  act  of 
disobedience  committed  by  those  two  in  that  beautiful 
Garden,  had  not  taught  its  lesson  to  the  people  who 
came  after.  We  should  have  fancied  that  the  mere 
fact — which  everybody  must  have  known — in  the  way 
Adam  and  Eve  had  been  punished  for  that  crime,  would 
tend  to  make  the  human  race  more  careful  about  doing 
anything  wicked  again.  But  it  went  just  the  other  way. 
Instead  of  becoming  better  as  the  years  went  on,  the 
human  race  grew  worse.  Sadly  we  have  to  confess  to 
you  that  many  other  awful  murders  were  committed 
after  what  Cain  had  done.  Many  a  man  had  been  sent 
out  as  a  wanderer  on  the  face  of  the  earth  because  he 
had  slain  his  brother.  It  would  almost  seem  as  though 
all  this  wickedness  grew  little  by  little  out  of  the  wick- 
edness of  that  first  brother,  or  out  of  the  wickedness 
of  that  first  father  and  mother,  in  the  Garden  of  Eden. 

36 


THE  EARLY  WORLD.  3? 

I  can  not  begin  to  tell  you  what  was  going  on. 
Instead  of  being  kind  to  each  other,  people  hated  each 
other.  Instead  of  peace,  there  was  strife  and  war. 
Instead  of  telling  the  truth,  they  would  tell  lies.  In- 
stead of  working  and  earning  their  daily  bread  like 
men  and  women,  they  would  steal.  They  seemed  to 
have  no  sense  of  honor,  no  sense  of  justice.  Boys 
and  girls  when  they  grew  up  would  no  longer  treat 
their  fathers  and  mothers  kindly,  but  leave  them  to 
hunger  and  starve.  The  people  seemed  to  care  only 
for  the  lower  kinds  of  pleasure,  such  as  eating  and 
drinking  and  beautiful  clothes.  They  never  thought  of 
trying  to  be  of  help  to  each  other,  or  to  improve  them- 
selves ;  and  it  never  seems  to  have  entered  their  minds 
that  they  would  be  punished  for  all  this,  sooner  or 
later. 

Just  think  what  the  Ruler  of  the  World,  who  had 
made  Adam  and  Eve  and  put  them  in  the  Garden  of 
Eden,  must  have  felt  about  it  all.  This  was  the  human 
race  for  which  he  had  done  so  much.  He  had  given 
them  the  earth  and  all  that  was  on  it;  he  had  made 
them  strong  so  that  they  could  earn  their  own  living 
and  be  brave  and  good  and  happy.  He  had  hoped  that, 
after  the  first  Fall,  after  that  first  evil  act  in  the  Garden 
of  Eden,  human  beings  would  know  better  later  on,  and 
not  be  guilty  of  wickedness  or  disobedience  again.  Can 
we  wonder  that  he  was  sad  at  heart?  There  was  the 
beautiful  Garden  he  had  made,  now  all  desolate,  its 
gates  closed  forever,  and  the  Flaming  Sword  above. 
Its  beauty  was  there  still;  the  trees  and  flowers  and 
birds — everything  the  same,  but  yet  strangely  changed ; 
and  it  seemed  somehow  as  if  a  cloud  hung  over  it,  be- 
cause of  what  had  taken  place  there. 

He  had  thought  how,  perhaps,  men  and  women, 
remembering  in  later  years  the  way  Adam  and  Eve 
had  been  punished,  would  try  to  make  a  new  Garden 
of  Eden  out  in  the  world  somewhere.  And  if  they 
did  so,  he  had  thought  how  he  would  bless  it  and  help 
them  to  try  and  keep  it  beautiful,  and  reward  their 
efforts ;  so  that  while  they  could  never  go  back  to  the 
first  Garden,  they  might  yet  build  themselves  beautiful 


3  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

homes  and  have  a  far  greater  and  more  beautiful  gar- 
den of  another  kind  somewhere  on  the  earth. 

Instead  of  this,  the  people  were  growing  worse  and 
worse,  stealing  from  each  other,  murdering  each  other, 
and  caring  naught  for  what  was  good  and  true.  They 
were  spoiling  the  earth  of  its  beauty ;  instead  of  mak- 
ing a  garden  of  it  they  were  injuring  it  and  wasting 
what  was  there.  As  we  are  told,  the  Lord  saw  that 
the  wickedness  of  man  was  growing  in  the  earth, 
and  that  every  imagination  of  the  thoughts  of  his 
heart  was  only  evil  continually.  We  can  fancy  the 
sorrow  in  the  heart  of  the  Great  Ruler  when  at  last 
he  had  to  own  to  himself  that  he  regretted  ever  having 
made  man  upon  the  earth.  And  it  grieved  him  at  his 
heart. 

And  do  you  want  to  know  what  he  said  to  himself? 
I  will  tell  you.  These  were  his  words :  "I  will  destroy 
man  whom  I  have  created,  from  the  face  of  the  ground ; 
both  man  and  beast  and  creeping  thing  and  fowl  of 
the  air,  for  it  repenteth  me  that  I  have  made  them." 
It  was  something  awful;  but  it  had  to  come.  The 
human  race  had  to  be  punished,  just  as  Adam  and 
Eve  had  been  punished.  He  looked  down  from  the 
skies  and  saw  all  the  men,  women  and  children.  And 
he  made  up  his  mind  then  what  he  would  do.  I  almost 
dread  to  tell  you  what  he  said  to  himself,  but  I  will 
read  it  to  you: 

"The  end  of  all  flesh  is  come  before  me;  for  the 
earth  is  rilled  with  violence  through  them;  and  behold, 
I  will  destroy  them  with  the  earth;  I  do  bring  the 
flood  of  waters  upon  the  earth  to  destroy  all  flesh 
wherein  is  the  breath  of  life  from  under  heaven ;  every- 
thing that  is  in  the  earth  shall  die." 

Do  you  wonder,  then,  how  it  happens  that  there  are 
any  human  beings  left  in  the  world  nowadays,  if  all 
men,  women  and  children  were  drowned  at  that  time? 
Why,  you  see,  the  Lord  was  saying  this  to  one  good 
man  called  Noah.  It  seems  that  of  all  people  then 
living  on  the  earth,  there  was  just  one  family,  a  man 
and  his  wife  and  his  three  sons  and  their  wives,  who 
were  not  really  bad.  All  the  rest  of  the  people,  the 
Lord  had  said,  were  unfit  to  live.  But  these  eight 


THE  EARLY  WORLD.  39 

people  he  had  decided  to  spare.  He  tells  Noah  what  he 
is  about  to  do,  and  bids  him  and  his  three  sons  to 
prepare  an  "ark"  or  big  boat  which  shall  float  on  the 
surface  of  the  waters  when  the  great  floods  should 
come.  No  others  should  be  spared  save  Noah  and  his 
family. 

It  must  have  been  a  huge  boat,  that  ark,  which 
should  float  on  the  waters,  because  Noah  had  been 
told  that  it  was  not  only  to  be  for  him  and  his  family, 
but  that  also  of  every  living  thing  of  all  flesh  he  was 
to  bring  two  of  every  sort  into  the  ark  and  keep  them 
alive  there,  male  and  female.  As  it  was  said  to  Noah : 

"Of  the  fowl  after  their  kind  and  of  the  cattle  after 
their  kind,  two  of  every  sort  shall  come  in  unto  thee 
to  keep  them  alive,  and  take  thou  with  thee  of  all  food 
that  is  eaten  and  gather  it  to  thee,  and  it  shall  be  food 
for  thee  and  for  them." 

I  am  telling,  as  you  know,  the  story  of  Noah  and 
the  Flood. 

At  last,  Noah  was  ready.  He  had  been  a  long  while 
with  his  sons  building  that  ark.  I  suppose  the  people 
had  laughed  at  him  or  despised  him  for  what  he  was 
doing.  What  did  they  care?  They  went  on  eating  and 
drinking  and  making  merry  in  their  wickedness  and 
growing  all  the  time  worse  and  worse.  But  the  judg- 
ment had  gone  forth ;  the  Ruler  of  the  World  had  de- 
cided, and  the  time  had  come.  All  the  animals  were 
there  and  were  taken  into  the  ark.  Then  Noah  entered 
with  his  family  and  the  door  was  shut.  He  was  ready 
for  what  was  to  happen. 

It  began  to  rain.  Perhaps  at  the  outset  it  was  just 
like  any  other  rain,  save  that  it  did  not  stop.  And 
the  people  for  a  while  did  not  mind  it — rather  liking 
it  for  a  change.  But  by  and  by  they  grew  a  little  un- 
easy, for  after  it  had  rained  a  day  or  two,  it  went  on 
raining.  It  rained  for  a  whole  week;  and  then  the 
plains  down  below  were  all  covered  with  water.  Peo- 
ple had  to  move  out  of  their  cities  and  go  on  the  hill- 
srdes,  leaving  their  homes  and  wealth  behind,  until 
they  began  to  wish  that  they  too,  like  Noah,  had  built 
arks  for  themselves. 


4O  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

But  it  was  too  late.  It  went  on  raining.  Day  after 
day  and  week  after  week  the  water  crept  steadily  up 
the  hillsides.  There  was  no  more  food  for  the  people 
to  eat,  and  the  children  were  starving  to  death.  Still 
the  waters  rose,  and  the  rain  poured  steadily  down, 
until  the  last  hill  tops  and  mountain  tops  were  finally 
covered,  and  there  was  not  a  speck  of  land  to  be  seen 
anywhere.  No  person  was  left  alive  save  the  family 
in  the  ark  with  Noah.  It  had  rained  forty  days  and 
forty  nights  so  the  story  tells  us,  as  it  is  said:  "The 
flood  was  forty  days  upon  the  earth;  and  the  waters 
increased  and  bare  up  the  ark  and  it  was  lifted  up 
above  the  earth,  and  the  ark  went  upon  the  face  of 
the  waters ;  all  high  mountains  that  were  under  the 
whole  heavens  were  covered." 

Can  you  fancy  such  a  scene  ?  One  awful  punishment 
had  come  for  all  the  bad  deeds  of  the  human  race 
since  Adam  and  Eve  had  been  cast  out  of  the  Garden 
of  Eden.  The  waters  of  the  heavens  had  washed  out 
the  whole  earth  clean.  And  it  had  been  done  by  drown- 
ing all  beings  on  the  face  of  the  earth  save  this  one 
family  floating  alone  over  the  waters  in  the  ark.  As 
it  was  said  in  the  story : 

"All  flesh  died  that  moved  on  the  earth,  both  fowl 
and  cattle  and  beast  and  every  creeping  thing  that 
creepeth  upon  the  earth,  and  every  man ;  all  in  whose 
nostrils  was  the  breath  of  the  spirit  of  life;  all  that 
was  in  the  dry  land,  diedi.  And  the  waters  prevailed 
upon  the  earth  an  hundred  and  fifty  days." 

The  Lord  was  satisfied.  There  had  been  no  pleas- 
ure to  him  in  the  punishment  which  he  had  put  on  the 
human  race.  It  was  sad  and  sorrowful  enough  to  him 
that  he  had  to  do  it.  As  he  looked  out  over  the  face 
of  the  earth,  he  must  have  felt  glad  that  at  least  one 
family  was  left  alive,  in  whom,  as  it  is  said,  "there 
breathed  the  breath  of  the  spirit  of  life." 

When,  therefore,  the  mountains  had  been  covered, 
the  rain  ceased  to  fall.  The  skies  cleared  and  the  sun 
once  more  began  to  shine.  And  there  was  Noah  wan- 
dering over  the  waters  in  the  ark,  waiting  until  they 
should  subside  and  he  should  find  dry  land  again. 


THE  EARLY  WORLD.  4! 

How  long  he  would  have  to  wait,  he  did  not  know. 
He  only  felt  sure  that  if  he  waited  long  enough,  the 
time  would  come  when  they  could  all  go  forth  again. 

When  it  seemed  as  if  he  could  wait  no  longer  and 
he  must  really  know  what  hope  there  was,  he  took  a 
dove  and  let  it  go  free  from  the  ark  in  order  to  see 
whether  it  would  find  dry  land,  or,  if  not,  come  back 
to  him.  But  Noah  had  been  impatient.  The  dove 
went  flying  here  and  there  over  the  surface  of  the 
waters,  finding  no  rest  for  its  feet,  and  at  last  it  re- 
turned to  the  ark  again,  "for  the  waters  were  on  the 
face  of  the  whole  earth.  And  Noah  put  forth  his 
hand  and  drew  it  within  the  ark." 

He  waited  another  seven  days;  and  growing  most 
impatient,  he  thought  he  would  try  once  more,  again 
sending  forth  the  dove  from  the  ark.  And  what  do 
you  suppose  happened?  Did  the  dove  come  back 
now,  or  find  dry  land  and  stay  away?  No;  it  came 
back  again,  but  in  its  beak  it  carried  an  olive  leaf.  In 
that  way,  you  see,  Noah  found  out  that  the  waters 
were  abating  from  off  the  earth.  With  a  little  more 
patience  he  waited  another  seven  days,  and  then  sent 
forth  the  same  dove.  I  fancy  by  this  time  the  dove 
was  tired  of  the  ark.  If  it  did  not  come  back  now, 
Noah  would  know  that,  ere  long,  he  himself  might 
leave  the  ark.  And  it  happened  that  the  dove  returned 
not  again  unto  him  any  more.  Then  at  last,  Noah 
took  off  the  covering  of  the  ark.  He  had  waited  long 
enough.  He  looked,  and  behold,  the  face  of  the  ground 
was  dry.  The  ark  had  rested  on  a  mountain  top.  You 
may  want  to  know  the  name  of  this  mountain.  It  was 
called  Mount  Ararat. 

There  was  the  earth,  quite  bare  where  it  had  been 
covered  by  the  waters,  with  just  this  one  family  and 
all  the  birds  and  beasts  and  living  things  within  the 
ark.  They  came  forth  now,  all  of  them,  to  people  the 
earth  again;  and  ere  long  the  earth  was  fresh  and 
green.  Flowers  once  more  began  to  bloom;  trees 
grew  up  again,  and  the  wild  animals  roamed  once 
more  as  of  old.  But  one  dread  hung  over  all  living 
people.  It  took  away  their  courage,  this  dread ;  until, 


42  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

in  order  to  give  them  heart  once  more,  their  Great 
Ruler  made  them  a  promise.  He  told  them  to  look  at 
the  rainbow,  and  whenever  they  saw  it  to  remember 
that  he  had  made  a  pledge  to  them  that  never  again 
should  there  be  a  flood  covering  the  whole  earth. 
Would  you  like  to  know  the  words  which,  as  we  are 
told,  he  used  in  speaking  to  Noah  as  he  made  this 
pledge  ?  I  will  give  them  to  you : 

"I  establish  my  covenant  with  you,  and  with  every 
living  creature  that  is  with  you;  the  fowl  and  cattle 
and  every  beast  that  is  with  you;  of  all  that  go  out 
of  the  ark,  even  every  beast  of  the  earth.  And  I  will 
establish  my  covenant  with  you:  neither  shall  all 
flesh  be  cut  oif  any  more  by  waters  of  the  flood ;  nei- 
ther shall  there  any  more  be  a  flood  to  destroy  the 
earth." 

The  human  race  had  learned  that,  in  one  way  or 
another,  wickedness  surely  gets  punished. 

To  THE  TEACHER:  There  should  be  something 
very  impressive  to  the  young  mind,  in  this  picture  of  a 
world  so  positively  wicked  all  the  way  through  as  to 
deserve  being  utterly  destroyed — as  if  even  the  beasts 
and  birds  had  become  infected  by  it  all.  Such  a  story, 
if  properly  told,  should  seem  still  further  to  awaken 
the  ethical  sense,  in  calling  forth  the  feeling  that  evil 
conduct  as  such  deserves  punishment.  It  is  well  to 
connect  the  thought  of  bad  conduct  or  a  wicked  life 
with  the  thought  of  punishment,  implying  that  the  two 
naturally  belong  together  and  that  the  one  somehow 
brings  the  other,  even  if  we  cannot  always  see  how  it 
comes.  It  is  the  conception  of  desert  we  need  to  em- 
phasize here.  There  are  several  features  of  the  story 
which  need  to  be  dwelt  upon  because  of  the  way  they 
have  entered  into  every-day  language :  as,  for  example, 
the  Ark,  the  Rainbow,  the  Dove,  Mount  Ararat,  etc. 

MEMORY  VERSE:  The  end  0/  all  flesh  is  come 
before  me;  for  the  earth  is  filled  with  violence  through 
them;  and  behold  I  will  destroy  them  with  the  earth; 
I  do  bring  tlw  flood  of  waters  upon  the  earth  to  destroy 
all  flesh  wherein  is  the  breath  of  life  under  the  heavens; 
every  thing  that  is  in  the  earth  shall  die. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Tower  of  Babel. 

It  was  a  long  while  ago,  just  how  long  I  cannot  say, 
and  over  in  another  part  of  the  world,  after  the  time 
of  the  great  Flood — it  may  have  been  hundreds  of  years 
later,  when  Noah  was  no  longer  alive — and  there  was 
again  a  great  number  of  people  on  the  earth.  I  sup- 
pose they  still  talked  about  the  time  long  gone  by, 
when  the  human  race  had  been  punished  for  all  its 
wickedness,  and  the  rain  had  come  down  from  the 
skies  and  drowned  everybody,  save  Noah  and  his  fam- 
ily. I  fancy  they  pointed  out  the  mountain  where  they 
thought  the  ark  had  come  to  its  rest.  But  they  had 
no  fear  of  any  more  such  punishment.  Now  it  was 
but  a  story  to  them,  and  it  may  be  that  many  of  the 
people  no  longer  believed  it. 

They  had  begun  to  build  cities  again.  They  had 
riches  once  more,  and  they  began  to  give  themselves 
over  just  to  having  a  good  time — seeking  only  after 
pleasures,  and  just  those  kinds  of  pleasures  which  sat- 
isfy people  for  a  moment  and  leave  nothing  behind. 

They  had  so  much  wealth  and  they  had  been  so  suc- 
cessful in  building  their  cities  that  they  were  fast  being 
overcome  with  pride.  Perhaps  you  know  what  that 
feeling  means?  In  those  days,  it  seems  that  every 
man  somehow  felt  as  if  he  were  better  than  any  other 
man.  So  now  I  am  going  to  tell  you  of  something 
extraordinary  that  took  place.  What  put  it  into  the 
people's  heads  I  do  not  know.  It  is  ne,ver  quite  easy  to 
explain  the  strange  ideas  or  plans  which  some  persons 
have.  But  be  that  as  it  may,  the  people  at  that  time 
did  think  up  the  strangest  sort  of  a  scheme.  As  to  the 
sense  of  it  all,  you  must  decide  for  yourselves.  But 

43 


44  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

they  got  it  into  their  heads  that  they  would  build  a 
tower.  It  was  not  to  be  just  the  ordinary  kind  of  a 
tower,  but  something  great  and  mighty;  greater  than 
anything  which  had  ever  been  built  before.  It  was  to 
be  high.  "How  high  ?"  you  ask.  Why,  they  meant  to 
make  it  go  on  up  until  it  touched  the  skies.  Possibly 
they  did  not  know  in  those  days  just  what  the  skies 
were,  or  how  high  it  was  up  there.  At  any  rate,  they 
thought  they  could  do  it ;  in  fact,  they  were  sure  of  it. 

They  talked  and  talked  a  great  deal  about  the  tower, 
and  how  they  would  build  it.  At  last  they  set  to  work 
and  laid  the  foundations.  You  can  be  sure  these  found- 
ations were  solid  and  strong.  They  were  not  going  to 
have  their  tower  tumble  over ;  it  was  to  stay  there  for- 
ever. "What  did  they  do  it  for?"  you  ask.  Well,  I 
do  not  quite  know.  It  may  be  that  they  did  not  know 
themselves.  People  do  not  always  have  the  best  of 
reasons  for  the  plans  they  have.  All  I  can  say  is, 
they  just  wanted  to  build  a  tower,  and  it  was  to  be 
something  very  large  indeed.  In  fact,  they  wanted  to 
see  just  what  they  could  do.  They  had  an  idea  that 
they  could  do  almost  anything,  and  they  were  quite 
sure  that  they  knew  almost  everything.  They  had 
stopped  trying  to  learn  anything  more,  because  they 
were  so  satisfied  with  themselves,  thinking  they  knew 
it  all,  or  all  that  ever  could  be  known. 

This  tower,  then,  we  assume,  was  to  show  how  clever 
they  were.  They  could  look  at  it  after  it  reached  the 
skies,  and  think  what  a  big  thing  they  had  done  and 
how  much  superior  they  would  show  themselves  to  any 
other  human  beings  who  ever  lived  before  them,  or  to 
any  people  who  might  come  afterwards.  What  sort  of 
a  feeling  do  you  call  this?  "Pride,"  you  answer? 
Yes,  that  was  it.  These  people  were  just  proud.  They 
evidently  wanted,  as  we  should  say  nowadays,  to  "show 
off." 

You  see,  the  world  was  young  then.  There  had  not 
been  very  much  history,  and  people  had  not  found  out 
what  they  did  not  know.  Sometimes  it  happens,  as  you 
are  aware,  that  the  more  ignorant  a  person  is,  the  more 
he  thinks  he  knows.  He  likes  to  talk  about  himself,  to 


tHE  EARLY  WORLD.  45 

think  about  himself ;  and  he  likes  to  have  other  people 
look  at  him  and  admire  him  and  talk  about  him. 

These  strange  people  lived  on  what  was  called  the 
Plains  of  Shinar,  away  over  in  Asia  somewhere;  and 
they  began  to  build  their  tower.  Just  as  soon  as  the 
foundations  were  laid,  thousands  of  people  would  come 
out  every  day  to  look  at  it ;  and  the  more  they  looked  at 
it,  the  more  esteem  they  felt  for  themselves,  and  the 
more  sure  they  were  that  no  people  would  ever  be  able 
to  do  anything  so  great  or  achieve  anything  so  extra- 
ordinary as  this  tower  was  going  to  be.  It  kept  on 
going  up,  higher  and  higher.  At  first  it  only  reached 
to  the  tops  of  the  doors  of  the  houses;  by  and  by  it 
was  as  high  as  the  roofs ;  then  it  went  on  up  above  the 
walls  of  the  city,  and  soon  it  was  higher  than  anything 
else  in  the  country.  Yet  it  kept  on  going  up,  and  they 
made  more  brick  and  brought  more  stone  and  built  it 
higher  and  higher,  and  as  they  watched  the  skies  they 
kept  wondering  how  long  it  would  be  before  their  tower 
would  touch  that  great  blue  dome  up  there. 

If  they  had  been  proud  before  they  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  that  tower,  they  grew  more  and  more  proud 
every  day.  They  spent  pretty  much  all  their  time 
admiring  themselves.  I  suppose  if  there  had  been  any 
books  in  those  days,  they  would  have  stopped  reading 
them.  Why  should  they  read  books  when  they  "knew 
all  about  it"?  What  reason  did  they  have  for  going 
to  see  other  parts  of  the  world,  when  they  were  so 
superior  themselves?  Yet,  all  the  while,  up  went  that 
tower;  and  it  did  almost  look  as  if  it  were  going  to 
touch  the  skies.  "What  sort  of  a  name  did  they  give 
to  it?"  you  ask.  Well,  I  think  we  should  have  called  it 
the  "Tower  of  Pride,"  yet  that  was  not  the  name  they 
gave  to  it  themselves. 

But  by  and  by  something  happened.  Usually  when 
people  get  too  proud,  something  does  happen.  fc)o  you 
think  that  the  tower  fell  down  ?  No,  it  stayed  there — 
at  least  for  awhile ;  just  how  long  I  do  not  know.  But 
there  was  a  fall  of  another  kind  for  that  Tower  of 
Pride. 

It  seems  that  the  Ruler  of  the  World  got  to  thinking 


46  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

about  it,  and  he  did  not  altogether  approve  of  what 
was  going  on  down  there  on  the  Plains  of  Shinar.  He 
was  quite  certain  if  the  human  race  went  on  in  that 
way  they  would  think  they  knew  everything  and  the 
world  would  come  to  a  standstill.  Now,  the  Great 
Ruler  wanted  the  human  race  to  go  on  improving,  and 
he  knew  that  the  one  great  vice  which  would  keep 
people  from  improving  was  Pride. 

There  was  no  other  way.  Those  people  there  on  the 
Plains  of  Shinar  had  to  be  taught  humility ;  their  pride 
must  have  a  fall;  in  some  way  they  must  be  brought 
back  to  their  senses.  I  almost  wonder  that  their  Lord 
did  not  despise  these  people  altogether  and  decide  not 
to  have  any  human  beings  on  earth  at  all,  if  they  were 
going  to  be  so  vain.  But  no ;  he  felt  pity  for  them  be- 
cause they  were  young  and  had  not  had  much  experi- 
ence, and  so  he  thought  he  would  try  another  way  to 
teach  them  humility. 

The  people  had  almost  fancied  that  their  tower  was 
just  about  to  reach  the  skies.  It  was  higher  than  any- 
thing else  in  the  world,  and  they  were  growing  more 
and  more  supremely  satisfied  over  it.  We  assume  there 
must  have  been  thousands  of  men  at  work  there. 

But  one  morning  there  was  trouble.  All  the  work 
came  to  a  standstill.  The  Lord  had  decided  to  inter- 
fere. And  what  do  you  suppose  he  did?  Well,  it  is 
said,  you  know,  that  people  in  those  days  all  talked 
alike.  Nowadays  we  have  any  number  of  languages 
among  the  races  scattered  throughout  the  world,  hun- 
dreds of  languages,  I  suppose.  But  according  to  my 
story,  from  what  we  are  told,  up  to  that  time  people 
talked  only  one  language,  and  all  men  could  understand 
each  other.  This  may  have  been  one  reason  why  they 
thought  they  knew  everything.  But  at  any  rate,  one 
morning  the  work  stopped.  Thousands  of  men  had 
come  together  to  go  on  with  the  tower,  when  all  of  a 
sudden  they  found  they  could  not  understand  each 
other.  One  man  was  talking  in  one  language,  and  an- 
other was  talking  in  another  language.  Just  how  many 
languages  they  were  speaking,  I  do  not  know ;  but  we 
fancy  it  must  have  been  hundreds  or  thousands. 


TH£  EARLY  WORLD.  47 

There  they  were.  What  could  they  do?  One  man 
would  give  a  direction  and  the  other  man  could  not 
understand  it.  The  whole  plan  fell  to  pieces.  They 
could  not  talk;  they  could  not  direct  each  other;  they 
could  not  explain  to  each  other  what  they  were  trying 
to  do.  It  was  the  end  of  that  tower.  As  far  as  they 
were  concerned,  it  was  as  if  that  great  structure  had 
tumbled  down  upon  their  heads.  It  was  there,  just  the 
same  as  it  was  the  day  before ;  but  they  could  not  go 
on  with  it. 

And  as  they  tried  to  talk  to  each  other  and  found 
that  they  could  not  understand  what  others  were  say- 
ing, it  struck  them  that  perhaps,  after  all,  they  did  not 
know  everything ;  otherwise  there  would  not  be  such  a 
wild  and  stupid  confusion  everywhere.  It  was  an 
awful  blow.  "A  blow  to  what?"  you  ask.  Why,  to 
their  pride,  I  should  say.  They  came  to  a  realization 
that  they  were  not  so  great  as  they  thought  they  were ; 
that  they  did  not  know  as  much  as  they  thought  they 
did ;  that  they  were  not  nearly  as  superior  as  they  had 
fancied. 

What  a  state  of  mind  the  people  must  have  been  in, 
there  in  that  great  city !  They  looked  up  at  their  tower 
and  they  felt  ashamed.  It  no  longer  added  to  their 
pride;  and  they  wished  they  could  pull  it  down.  It 
all  seemed  very  childish  now,  the  effort  they  had  made 
to  "show  off."  They  wished  they  had  never  begun  it. 
It  struck  them  that  perhaps,  after  all,  the  human  race 
was  young,  and  that  if  they  were  to  start  out  and  scat- 
ter over  the  world,  they  might  go  on  improving  and 
learning  a  great  deal  more. 

They  left  their  tower  and  it  crumbled  away.  They 
abandoned  their  city,  those  speaking  one  language  go- 
ing one  way ;  others  speaking  another  language  going 
another  way.  But  as  they  departed  they  had  quite  a 
different  look  on  their  faces  from  what  they  had  had 
a  few  years  before  when,  in  their  pride,  they  had  laid 
the  foundations  of  that  great  building.  The  Tower  of 
their  Pride  had  fallen,  and  they  had  learned  humility. 

To  THE  TEACHER:  The  keynote  of  this  lesson 
could  be  the  evil  effects  of  vanity  or  pride.  We  are 


48  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

dealing  in  these  stories  mainly  with  the  primary  sins 
and  primary  virtues.  The  picture  has  touched  on  one  of 
the  elemental  weaknesses  of  human  nature — over-self- 
esteem.  Young  and  old  alike  should  be  made  to  feel  a 
sense  of  humility  or  insignificance  before  the  Universe 
and  its  Author.  One  is  not  to  blame  for  a  normal  self- 
confidence  in  one's  powers.  But  we  can  explain  how 
it  is  that  there  is  a  limit  beyond  which  confidence  in 
self  becomes  a  sign  of  weakness  instead  of  strength. 
The  figure  of  a  little  child  defying  its  father  could  be 
introduced  as  illustrating  the  attitude  of  the  people  oi 
those  days  in  constructing  their  tower,  as  if  in  their 
presumption  they  felt  themselves  the  equal  or  the  su- 
perior of  the  very  Ruler  over  All.  Point  out  how  it  is 
that  by  such  presumption  we  only  make  ourselves  seem 
all  the  more  petty  or  inferior  from  the  contemptible 
folly  of  our  conduct. 


PART  II. 
THE  PATRIARCHS. 


CHAPTER  V. 
The  Promise  to  Abram. 

Now  we  reach  a  time  a  long  while  after  the  da;'S 
when  the  people  had  tried  to  build  their  Tower  of  Babel 
and  then  were  scattered  over  the  earth.  We  are  toid 
how  one  of  the  sons  of  Noah,  many  hundreds  and  hun- 
dreds of  years  before,  had  gone  off  south  to  Africa. 
His  name,  as  you  know,  was  Ham;  and  nowadays, 
sometimes,  the  races  living  on  that  continent  who  have 
been  there  these  thousands  of  years,  are  called  the  "de- 
scendants of  Ham."  Then  there  was  another  called 
Shem,  and  he  went  in  another  direction ;  while  the  third 
son,  who  was  called  Japheth,  went  into  still  a  third  part 
of  the  world.  In  this  way,  a«  vou  see,  we  sometimes 
hear  it  said  how  all  the  races  of  men  descended  from 
the  three  sons  of  Noah — Shem,  Ham  and  Japheth. 

I  shall  want  to  tell  you  a  great  deal  about  one  spe- 
cial family.  We  shall  have  little  more  to  say  about  the 
descendants  of  Ham  or  of  Japheth.  Nearly  all  of 
what  we  shall  have  to  describe  will  be  about  the  de- 
scendants of  Shem,  who  lived  over  in  Asia. 

It  may  be  that  you  have  heard  about  the  three  famous 
men  of  those  times,  known  as  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Ja- 
cob. Abraham  was  the  grandfather  of  Jacob  and  the 
father  of  Isaac.  At  first  his  name  was  Abram,  but  it 
was  changed  by  and  by.  Later  on  I  will  tell  you  why 
this  was  done. 

These  three  men,  about  whom  so  much  is  told, 
are  spoken  of  as  "The  Patriarchs."  They  did  not  live 

49 


50  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

in  cities,  as  many  of  us  do  nowadays.  Their  wealth 
did  not  consist  in  houses  and  lands.  They  did  not  have 
farms  with  great  wheat  and  corn  fields  everywhere 
about  them.  No,  Abram's  wealth  consisted  in  flocks 
of  sheep  and  herds  of  cattle;  although  he  also  had  a 
great  deal  of  silver  and  gold,  for  he  was  a  prosperous 
man,  and  a  rich  one.  People  admired  him  and  thought 
a  great  deal  of  him.  But  you  see,  with  that  kind  of 
wealth,  he  could  not  live  in  one  place  or  reside  in  a 
city.  He  had  to  travel  about  with  his  flocks  and  herds 
wherever  he  could  find  good  pasture.  And  so  the 
patriarchs  lived  in  tents,  wandering  about  the  country 
from  place  to  place,  taking  their  riches  with  them 
wherever  they  had  to  go. 

It  must  have  been  a  strange  sort  of  life;  and  yet  1 
should  not  be  surprised  if  they  took  much  pleasure  in 
it.  You  see,  they  had  to  live  out  in  the  open  air  a 
great  deal.  They  could  study  the  stars  at  night  if  they 
had  nothing  else  to  do ;  and  we  are  told  it  was  in  those 
days  that  the  science  of  "astronomy"  was  founded 
through  such  a  study  of  the  heavens. 

All  the  people  who  were  with  Abram  helping  him  to 
take  care  of  his  flocks  and  herds,  men  who  had  to  milk 
,  the  cows  and  those  who  had  to  look  after  the  sheep  and 
tend  them  while  feeding  in  the  pastures,  all  seemed, 
as  it  were,  to  belong  to  one  great  family,  which  was 
called  the  "tribe."  And  Abram,  who  owned  all  the 
wealth  would  be  the  head  of  the  tribe  or  family  and  be 
the  "Patriarch." 

They  did  not  dress  in  those  days  as  we  do  now.  The 
clothing  they  wore  was  suited  to  the  climate  there  and 
to  the  kind  of  life  they  led.  It  may  be  that  you  would 
like  to  see  how  Abram  looked  in  those  days  and  what 
kind  of  dress  he  wore.  We  can  show  you  a  picture  of 
the  way  he  may  have  looked,  because  there  are  men  even 
nowadays  in  that  far  away  country,  living  in  tribes, 
keeping  flocks  and  herds  and  traveling  about  just  in  the 
way  he  lived  with  his  family. 

Now,  Abram  was  a  better  man  in  a  great  many  ways 
than  the  other  people  about  him,  or  the  other  patriarchs 
as  heads  of  their  tribes.  He  was  living  at  this  time 


THE   PATRIARCHS.  51 

Somewhere  in  the  center  of  the  continent  of  Asia,  per- 
haps not  far  from  the  Euphrates  or  Tigris  rivers,  which, 
as  you  know,  flow  into  the  Persian  Gulf.  Just  precisely 
where  it  was  we  do  not  know,  but  it  was  called  the  land 
of  Ur,  belonging  to  the  Chaldees. 

The  Ruler  of  the  World  knew  all  about  this,  of 
course,  and  how  much  better  Abram  was  than  the  other 
patriarchs.  And  so  he  thought  it  best  to  have  him  go 
away  into  another  part  of  Asia  and  found  a  great  fan> 
ily  of  his  own.  I  suppose  this  must  have  been  pretty 
hard  for  Abram  and  his  family.  He  was  probably  very 
fond  of  the  people  around  him,  the  other  tribes  living 
with  other  patriarchs.  And  it  may  be  that  they  were 
fond  of  him,  too,  because,  while  Abram  was  a  better 
man  than  they  were,  he  did  not  call  himself  any  better 
or  put  on  superior  airs  or  show  any  great  pride.  He 
was  a  man  of  simple  habits  and  good  to  other  people. 
But  he  knew  he  had  to  obey.  The  command  had  come 
for  him,  telling  him  he  must  go.  Would  you  like  to 
know  what  the  Lord  said  to  him  in  bidding  him  leave 
his  home  and  family?  Well,  I  will  read  to  you  just 
what,  as  we  are  told,  was  said  to  Abram : 

"Get  thee  out  of  thy  country  and  from  thy  kindred 
and  from  thy  father's  house  into  the  land  that  I  will 
show  thee ;  and  I  will  make  of  thee  a  great  nation,  and 
I  will  bless  thee  and  make  thy  name  great ;  and  be  thou 
a  blessing;  and  I  will  bless  them  that  bless  thee,  and 
him  that  curseth  thee  will  I  curse,  and  in  thee  shall 
all  the  families  of  the  earth  be  blest." 

You  see,  this  was  not  only  a  command,  but  a  promise 
to  Abram.  Perhaps  it  was  this  promise  which  made 
it  easier  for  Abram  to  go  away  into  a  far  country  and 
leave  his  kindred  behind  him.  In  spite  of  all  the  sor< 
row  of  the  parting  and  the  wish  he  must  have  felt  to 
have  taken  his  own  kindred  with  him,  he  could  still 
keep  thinking  of  this  glorious  promise — how,  in  some 
way,  through  him,  by  and  by  in  distant  times,  all  the 
world  was  to  be  blessed.  As  he  went  on  traveling, 
getting  further  and  further  away,  knowing  that  he 
should  never  go  back  there,  he  could  still  keep  murmur-  * 
ing  those  words  to  himself:  "I  will  make  of  thee  a 


52  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

great  nation;  I  will  bless  thee  and  make  thy  name 
great,  and  in  thee  shall  all  the  families  of  the  earth  be 
blest." 

After  all,  I  think  for  this  reason,  Abram  must  have 
been  a  happy  man,  because  we  feel  sure  that  in  earlier 
years  he  had  found  great  pleasure  in  being  of  service 
to  others.  And  now  he  could  have  the  pleasure  of 
thinking  of  the  still  greater  good  he  would  be  in  some 
way,  later  on,  to  all  mankind. 

He  had  to  travel  over  the  desert,  where,  as  you  know, 
there  was  at  times  no  pasture  for  his  flocks  or  herds 
and  no  water  for  him  or  his  people  to  drink.  They 
would  have  to  wait,  and  go  on  and  on,  all  the  while 
thinking  of  the  land  to  which  they  were  at  last  to  come 
and  where  they  were  to  settle  down.  It  was  to  be  the 
Land  of  Canaan,  which  we  now  speak  of  as  Palestine. 

I  am  glad  to  say  that  Abram  was  allowed  to  take  his 
family  with  him,  and  at  least  one  other  of  his  kindred. 
His  wife's  name  was  Sarai.  Later  on  her  name  was 
changed,  as  we  shall  see. 

Besides  his  wife,  he  was  permitted  to  take  his  broth- 
er's son  with  him,  whose  name  was  Lot.  As  it  is  told 
us,  "Abram  took  Sarai  and  Lot,  his  brother's  son,  and 
all  the  substance  that  they  had  gathered ;  and  they  went 
forth  to  go  into  the  Land  of  Canaan ;  and  into  the  Land 
of  Canaan  they  came" — all  the  while,  as  I  have  said, 
Abram  being  very  rich  in  cattle  and  sheep  and  in  silver 
and  gold. 

Lot,  the  nephew  of  Abram,  was  also  a  very  rich  man. 
He,  too,  had  great  flocks  and  herds  and  many  tents. 
And  so,  you  see,  when  they  had  at  last  settled  in  the 
land  of  Canaan  and  were  living  close  together  there 
was  really  not  quite  enough  room  for  them  both.  And 
this  naturally  made  Abram  very  unhappy.  He  did  not 
like  to  part  with  Lot,  and  yet  he  did  not  know  what  to 
do,  because,  as  it  is  said,  "the  land  was  not  able  to  bear 
them  that  they  might  dwell  together;  for  their  sub- 
stance was  so  great  that  they  could  not  dwell  together." 

They  tried  as  best  they  could  for  a  while  to  get  along. 

'But  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  trouble  arose  between  the 

herdsmen  of  Abram's  cattle  and  the  herdsmen  of  Lot's 


THE   PATRIARCHS.  53 

cattle.  These  men  began  to  quarrel,  and  there  was 
strife  between  them.  I  fancy  that  Lot  and  Abram  by 
themselves  might  have  managed  it.  But  there  was  no 
way  now  to  get  along,  inasmuch  as  this  strife  had  be- 
gun, and  they  wanted  peace. 

Every  little  while,  in  spite  of  all  they  could  do,  they 
would  hear  of  quarrels  arising  between  the  two  sets  of 
herdsmen,  until  Abram  felt  at  last  that  they  must  sepa- 
rate. And  he  arranged  it  in  a  beautiful  way.  He  was 
the  older  man,  and,  I  suppose,  had  more  wealth  than 
Lot.  And  so  he  thought  it  right  that  he  should  give  to 
the  younger  man  the  choice,  instead  of  taking  the 
choice  for  himself. 

One  rejoices  to  think  of  the  way  Abram  got  around 
this  trouble.  We  can  see  why  it  was  that  he  had  been 
sent  out  by  the  Lord  to  found  a  great  family,  showing, 
as  it  does,  what  a  really  good  man  in  many  ways  he 
must  have  been.  He  had  all  the  power,  and  if  he  had 
chosen  could  have  taken  the  best  land  and  sent  Lot 
away.  But  no;  he  was  not  the  one  to  act  in  that  kind 
of  spirit. 

At  last  Abram  called  Lot  to  him,  and  they  had  a  quiet 
talk  together.  We  can  fancy  them,  perhaps,  standing 
before  the  great  tent  in  the  cool  of  the  evening,  view- 
ing in  the  distance  their  flocks  and  herds,  and  wonder- 
ing what  they  should  do.  Then  Abram  spoke  to  Lot 
in  these  words :  "Let  there  be  no  strife,  I  pray  thee, 
between  me  and  thee,  and  between  my  herdsmen  and 
thy  herdsmen,  for  we  are  brethren."  Was  it  not  beauti- 
ful, the  reason  which  Abram  gave?  I  always  like  to 
remember  those  four  words  so  kindly  spoken  by  Ab- 
ram. Surely  it  would  be  well  worth  our  while  to  com- 
mit them  to  memory :  "For  we  are  brethren." 

It  would  have  been  bad  enough  if  there  had  been 
strife  among  the  men,  even  if  they  had  not  been  re- 
lated ;  but  it  seemed  quite  awful  to  Abram  to  have  these 
quarels  going  on  between  families  which  were  all  of  one 
kindred.  And  Abram  went  on  to  speak  again  in  these 
words :  "Is  not  the  whole  land  before  thee  ?  Separate 
thyself,  I  pray  thee,  from  me.  If  thou  wilt  take  the  left 
hand,  then  I  will  take  the  right ;  and  if  thou  take  the 


54  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIKfr. 

right  hand,  then  I  will  go  to  the  left."  Was  not  that 
bravely  and  manfully  said? 

There  they  were  together,  in  the  cool  of  the  evening, 
with  all  their  wealth  before  them,  but  with  no  sugges- 
tion of  strife  between  the  two  men  who  "were  breth- 
ren." I  am  afraid  Lot  was  not  quite  so  generous  in  all 
ways  as  Abram.  He  evidently  wanted  more  wealth, 
and  perhaps  was  a  little  bit  jealous  of  the  riches  of  his 
uncle.  We  are  not  told  that  he  was  willing  to  give  the 
choice  up ;  and  he  was  very  glad  that  these  kind  words 
had  come  from  Abram.  He  knew  about  the  country 
all  around  there,  and  what  was  the  best  land  for  his 
flocks  and  herds.  He  thought  of  the  rich  country  down 
around  the  river  Jordan,  not  far  away  from  the  great 
cities  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  how  the  land  was  well 
watered  there.  And  so  Lot  said  to  Abram,  "I  will  take 
the  Plain  of  Jordan."  And  Abram,  on  the  other  hand, 
dwelt  further  north  in  the  Land  of  Canaan. 

You  can  well  suppose  that  this  conduct  on  the  part 
of  Abram  pleased  the  Ruler  of  the  World  very  much, 
indeed,  and  made  him  all  the  more  sure  that  he  was 
wise  in  singling  out  Abram  in  this  way  to  be  the 
founder  of  a  great  family.  And  therefore,  in  order 
to  satisfy  Abram  and  make  him  happy,  he  repeated  his 
promise  to  him,  although  it  had  certainly  not  been 
forgotten.  And  this  was  what  he  said  to  him :  "Lift 
up  now  thine  eyes,  and  look  from  the  place  where  thou 
art,  northward  and  southward  and  eastward  and  west- 
ward ;  for  all  the  land  which  thou  seest,  to  thee  will  I 
give  it,  and  to  thy  family  forever.  Arise,  walk  through 
the  land  to  the  length  of  it  and  in  the  breadth  of  it ; 
for  unto  thee  will  I  give  it." 

And  Abram,  you  can  be  sure,  felt  very  happy.  This 
land,  as  we  have  said,  we  think  of  now  as  Palestine. 
In  this  connection  it  may  be  that  you  would  like  to 
have  me  tell  you  another  story  of  what  took  place  later 
on  at  one  time  between  Abram  and  Lot.  You  see,  as 
you  remember,  Lot  had  chosen  the  rich  and  well  wa- 
tered country  down  along  the  river  Jordan.  He  had 
chosen  what  he  most  wanted,  and  felt  satisfied  with 
his  choice,  But  sometimes,  when  people  take  just  what 


THE  PATRIARCHS.  55 

they  want  and  think  they  have  got  the  best  of  every- 
thing in  their  choice,  they  find  themselves  a  little  mis- 
taken. It  may  be  that  something  happens  to  make  them 
regret  having  acted  quite  so  selfishly.  I  am  not  quite 
sure  how  Lot  felt,  but  I  know  there  was  trouble  by 
and  by. 

We  told  you  that  down  there,  not  far  away  from  the 
river  Jordan,  where  Lot  had  gone,  were  the  two  great 
cities  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah.  These  cities  were  very 
rich  and  had  kings  over  them.  But  just  because  of 
these  riches,  other  kings  began  to  be  jealous  of  all  the 
wealth  there.  And  by  and  by  these  other  kings  decided 
they  would  make  war  on  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  going 
with  their  armies  and  seizing  the  wealth  of  those  two 
cities.  We  are  certain  that  if  this  happened  there 
would  be  trouble  for  Lot  and  his  family,  who  was  liv- 
ing with  all  his  flocks  and  herds  not  far  away.  These 
kings  might  turn  aside  and  carry  a  good  deal  of  Lot's 
wealth  away  with  them,  besides  what  they  stole  from 
the  great  cities  they  would  attack. 

And  all  this  really  took  place.  The  king  of  Sodom 
and  the  king  of  Gomorrah  went  out  with  their  armies 
and  set  themselves  in  battle  array  in  order  to  defend 
their  cities.  But  it  did  no  good.  Their  armies  were 
not  strong  enough.  They  were  defeated,  and  they  had 
to  fly.  Then  what  do  you  suppose  happened? 

It  seems  that  round  about  those  cities  there  were  a 
number  of  "slime  pits,"  as  they  were  called,  and  these 
unlucky  kings  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  fell  in  there, 
while  the  rest  of  the  people  fled  to  the  mountains. 
And  the  victorious  kings  went  into  the  cities  with  their 
army  and  carried  off  the  food  and  the  wealth,  at  the 
same  time  seizing  Lot  and  carrying  him  off  with  them. 
By  this  time  I  suspect  that  Lot  wished  he  had  not 
chosen  the  Plain  of  Jordan,  even  if  it  was  a  rich  and 
well  watered  country.  He  must  have  wished  that  he 
had  shown  a  more  generous  spirit,  like  that  shown  by 
Abram.  But  be  that  as  it  may,  it  was  too  late.  He  had 
been  captured. 

You  will  remember  that  Abram  was  living  further 
north,  in  Canaan,  with  his  flocks  and  herds.  And  one 


56  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

of  the  people  who  had  escaped,  came  and  told  him  what 
had  happened  to  Lot  and  to  the  cities  of  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah.  Abram,  I  suppose,  did  not  care  very  much 
about  those  two  cities,  because  he  knew  the  people 
there  were  very  wicked.  But  he  loved  his  brother's 
son,  and  so  he  wanted  to  rescue  Lot,  who  had  been 
made  a  captive.  He  gathered  together  the  men  around 
him,  leaving  just  a  few  behind  to  take  care  of  the  cattle 
and  sheep,  going  with  the  rest  of  them — over  three 
hundred  in  number.  He  met  the  enemy,  battled  with 
them  and  came  out  victorious  over  those  other  kings, 
setting  free  once  more  those  kings  of  Sodom  and  Go- 
morrah— and,  most  of  all,  bringing  back  with  him  his 
brother's  son,  Lot,  along  with  the  goods  and  the  other 
members  of  the  family  who  had  been  carried  away. 

Anyone  would  feel  perfectly  sure  that  the  kings  of 
those  two  cities  would  have  been  very  grateful  to 
Abram  for  what  he  had  done,  even  if  they  were  not 
very  good  men.  He  had  saved  their  lives  at  the  risk  of 
his  own  and  rescued  their  cities.  They,  in  return  for 
this  great  deed,  offered  him  one-tenth  of  all  the  wealth 
he  had  captured.  Abram  was  a  rich  man  already,  al- 
though I  fancy  he  would  have  been  glad  to  have  all 
this  wealth  besides.  But  he  had  not  done  this  for  the 
sake  of  getting  any  more  money  or  flocks  or  herds. 
He  had  done  it  for  the  sake  of  his  nephew,  Lot,  and 
so  he  did  not  want  pay  for  it.  He  was  not  that  kind 
of  a  man.  He  actually  refused  to  accept  the  wealth 
that  was  offered  him,  saying  in  reply :  "I  will  not  take 
a  thread  nor  a  shoelatchet  nor  aught  that  is  thine,  lest 
thou  shouldst  say,  I  have  made  Abram  rich :  save  only 
that  which  the  young  men  have  eaten  and  the  portion 
of  the  men  which  went  with  me." 

Then  Lot  went  back  with  his  flocks  and  herds  to  the 
Plain  of  Jordan,  while  Abram  returned  north  again 
to  his  home  in  Canaan.  He  had  done  a  good  and  gen- 
erous deed  and  thought  no  more  about  it. 

In  this  way,  you  see,  we  realize  more  and  more  why 
it  was  that  Abram  had  been  chosen  out  and  received  the 
promise  of  the  Land  of  Canaan. 


THE    PATRIARCHS.  57 

To  THE  TEACHER:  Dwell  a  good  deal  on  the  gen- 
erous spirit  of  Abram.  Write  on  the  blackboard  the 
words,  "And  they  were  brethren."  Fix  the  names  of 
the  three  patriarchs  definitely  in  the  minds  of  the  chil- 
dren. Expand  a  little  on  the  life  of  the  patriarchs. 
Show  a  picture  of  an  Arab  sheik,  as  giving  a  sugges- 
tion of  how  Abram  looked.  Raise  the  question  whether 
Lot  should  have  so  readily  accepted  the  choice  offered 
him  by  Abram.  Show  a  picture  of  the  Plain  of  Jordan. 
Point  out  how  Lot  overreached  himself  in  the  choice 
he  made,  while  the  conduct  of  Abram  in  the  second 
part  of  the  chapter  should  be  brought  forward  as  a 
story  of  doing  a  good  deed  for  its  own  sake. 

MEMORY  VERSES  :  /  will  make  of  thee  a  great  na- 
tion; I  will  bless  thee  and  make  thy  name  great,  and  in 
thee  shall  all  the  families  of  the  earth  be  blest. 

Let  there  be  no  strife,  I  pray  thee,  between  thee  and 
me,  and  between  my  herdsmen  and  thy  herdsmen,  for 
we  are  brethren. 

I  will  not  take  a  thread  nor  a  latchet  nor  aught  that 
is  thine,  lest  thou  shouldst  say,  I  have  made  Abram 
rich. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
/ 

The  Casting  Out  of  Hagar. 

We  have  said  to  you  that  Abram  was  a  happy  man, 
partly  for  the  reason  that  he  had  been  of  service  to 
others,  and  partly  because  of  the  promise  that,  some- 
how, his  family  was  to  be  a  blessing  to  the  world.  But, 
as  you  know,  very  few  people  are  altogether  happy. 
No  man  has  quite  all  that  he  wants,  or  all  that  he  would 
like  to  have.  Usually  something  will  trouble  him,  or 
there  may  be  some  one  thing  he  may  long  for  very 
much,  and  yet  it  never  seems  to  come  to  him. 

And  this  was  true  of  Abram.  He  had  a  wife  and 
home  and  great  riches  in  gold  and  silver  and  in  flocks 
and  herds.  He  had  friends  enough  all  around  him,  and 
more  and  more  the  whole  tribe  must  have  loved  him, 
and  showed  devotion  to  him.  He  went  on  growing 
richer  and  richer,  getting  more  silver  and  gold  and 
having  greater  flocks  and  herds — more  at  times,  it 
seemed,  than  he  knew  just  what  to  do  with.  And  yet 
I  fancy  he  would  have  been  willing  to  have  given  away 
one-half  of  all  he  had,  if  just  one  other  blessing  might 
come  to  him. 

He  was  not  quite  happy,  because,  in  spite  of  all  this 
wealth  and  all  those  friends,  he  was  an  old  man,  and 
as  yet  had  no  children.  The  other  people  around  him 
had  little  ones  growing  up  into  young  manhood  and 
young  womanhood ;  but  there  was  Abram,  with  no  lit- 
tle ones  as  yet  to  call  him  father. 

Now,  I  must  tell  you  something  that  will  seem  very 
strange,  indeed,  and  hard  for  us  nowadays  to  under- 
stand. But  we  must  not  forget  that  the  world  was 
very  different  thousands  of  years  ago;  and  they  had 
customs  then  which  we  should  not  like  to  have  now, 

58 


THE   PATRIARCHS.  59 

and  which  we  would  not  even  allow  to  exist.  But,  you 
see,  in  those  far  away  times,  there  were  fewer  people 
in  the  world  than  now,  and  it  was  quite  usual  in  those 
days  for  a  wealthy  man  to  have  more  than  one  wife. 

I  can  see  that  this  surprises  you,  and  we  do  not  even 
like  to  think  of  it.  But  we  must  remember  that  this 
was  a  long  time  ago,  and  I  suppose  in  those  days  they 
had  not  learned  better.  They  had  not  found  out,  as  we 
have,  that  in  the  only  true  kind  of  family  there  can 
never  be  any  more  than  one  husband  and  one  wife. 
Yet  as  Abram  was  a  wealthy  man,  he  did  have  more 
than  one  wife.  The  other  one  was  called  Hagar,  and 
she  was  a  servant,  or  "bondwoman,"  as  the  name  went, 
to  the  first  wife,  Sarai. 

And  for  a  long,  long  while  Sarai  had  no  children. 
She,  too,  therefore,  was  quite  unhappy — more  so,  per- 
haps, than  Abram.  But  by  and  by  a  little  son  came  to 
the  wife  Hagar.  This  of  course,  pleased  Abram  very 
much.  For  he  knew  that  by  and  by  a  child  would 
lisp  the  word  "father"  to  him. 

But  while  Abram  was  happy,  and  likewise  Hagar,  in 
the  fact  that  now  at  last  there  was  a  child  in  that  home, 
we  cannot  help  but  think  that  one  member  of  that  fam- 
ily must  have  been  very  much  troubled.  It  would  be 
the  other  wife,  Sarai ;  and  it  would  be  hard  for  us  to 
blame  her  because  of  her  trouble  of  mind.  She,  too, 
wanted  children,  like  Hagar,  and  wanted  that  Abram 
should  love  her  also  for  the  sake  of  the  children  she 
might  bring  to  him.  Then,  too,  I  am  very  much  afraid 
that  Hagar  began  to  feel  proud  over  the  fact  that  she 
had  a  child ;  and  it  may  be  that  she  boasted  a  little  to 
Sarai  in  her  pride.  This  must  have  made  the  other  wife 
feel  very  unhappy,  indeed.  It  is  never  at  all  pleasant  to 
have  anyone  boast  over  us — and  least  of  all  is  it  a  pleas- 
ure when  we  know  that  we  may  not  be  to  blame. 

For  this  reason  we  feel  pretty  sure  there  would  be 
trouble  in  that  family;  that  all  was  not  going  to  be 
perfect  peace  for  the  old  father  Abram.  He  was  glad 
enough  to  have  the  little  child,  even  though  his  first 
wife,  Sarai,  was  not  its  mother.  And  so,  you  see,  when 
people  are  unhappy,  as  Sarai  was,  unless  they  have  a 


6O  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

great  deal  of  control  over  themselves  they  may  lose 
their  temper.  By  and  by  she  lost  hers  and  became  very 
angry  with  Hagar,  and  even  abused  her. 

But  for  Sarai's  sake,  I  am  glad  to  say  that  a  child 
at  last  came  to  her,  too.  Then  she  was  very  happy  and 
proud,  indeed.  She  felt  perfectly  sure  now  that  Abram 
would  care  as  much,  or  more,  for  her  than  he  had  for 
the  other  wife,  Hagar.  And  they  called  this  little  boy 
Isaac. 

One  would  suppose  now,  when  the  family  was  com- 
plete, and  each  wife  had  a  little  child,  that  all  would  go 
on  happily  again,  and  there  would  be  no  more  trouble. 
The  father  himself  was  surely  more  than  content. 

It  was  about  this  time,  as  you  may  know,  that 
Abram's  name  was  changed.  Now  that  he  had  children 
he  could  see  how  it  was  that  he  would  have  a  great 
family,  and  how,  through  his  family,  the  world  might 
be  blessed.  And  so,  we  are  told,  the  Lord  changed  his 
name  from  Abram  to  Abraham,  meaning  the  "father 
of  many  nations."  Hereafter,  therefore,  we  shall  speak 
of  this  father  by  his  other  name. 

For  a  little  while,  at  any  rate,  the  whole  family  were 
happy  enough.  There  were  the  two  wives,  Sarai  and 
Hagar,  and  the  happy  father,  Abraham,  with  his  two 
little  sons.  About  this  time,  I  must  tell  you,  the  Lord 
had  also  changed  the  name  of  Sarai  into  Sarah,  mean- 
ing "princess,"  and  so  we  shall  speak  of  her  hereafter 
by  this  other  name  of  Sarah. 

But  by  and  by  trouble  came  into  the  family.  It  had 
been  started  long  before,  when  Sarah  had  no  children, 
and  she  had  been  angry  with  Hagar  and  had  felt 
so  much  jealousy  when  Hagar  had  been  inclined  to 
boast  about  being  the  only  one  who  had  a  child.  But 
now  that  Sarah  was  a  mother  and  had  a  little  one  of 
her  own,  she  began  to  look  down  upon  Hagar,  and  the 
bad  feelings  which  had  commenced  some  years  before 
came  back  and  grew  worse  and  worse. 

One  cannot  help  feeling  very  sorry  about  this.  It 
shows  how  bad  it  is  that  such  feelings  should  ever  start 
at  all ;  for,  once  they  have  begun,  it  is  pretty  sure  they 
will  return  again.  Yet  both  of  them1  were  to  blame. 


THE   PATRIARCHS.  6l 

One  had  been  boastful  and  the  other  had  been  jealous. 
The  bad  feeling  between  the  two  mothers  grew  worse 
and  worse,  and  Abraham  scarcely  knew  what  to  do. 
Sarah  was  his  first  wife,  and  Hagar  had  been  only  a 
bondwoman;  hence  he  felt  it  was  his  duty  to  uphold 
his  first  wife,  Sarah,  and  her  child. 

It  must  have  been  a  very  unhappy  time  for  the  poor 
old  father.  Furthermore,  and  what  seems  even  worse, 
the  two  children  began  to  quarrel  between  themselves. 
Then,  too,  one  day  Sarah  saw  the  child  of  Hagar  mock- 
ing her.  This  was  more  than  she  could  stand.  She 
made  up  her  mind  that  she  would  not  live  in  the  same 
house  with  Hagar  and  her  child.  She  went  at  once  to 
Abraham  and  told  him  that  if  she  was  to  remain  with 
him  as  his  wife,  he  would  have  to  cast  out  Hagar  and 
her  child.  Poor  old  Abraham  saw  the  end  of  it  all,  as 
she  said :  "Cast  out  this  bondwoman  and  her  son ;  for 
the  son  of  this  bondwoman  shall  not  be  heir  with  my 
son,  even  with  Isaac." 

The  children,  of  course,  were  so  very  young — per- 
haps not  more  than  three  or  four  years  old — that  they 
did  not  know  what  all  this  was  about.  But  there  was 
nothing  else  for  Abraham  to  do.  He  was  obliged  to 
act  according  to  the  wishes  of  his  first  wife,  Sarah,  al- 
though it  grieved  him  to  the  very  heart;  for  Hagar 
and  her  child  were  also  very  dear  to  him. 

Nowadays  all  this  could  not  happen.  It  was,  you 
see,  because  of  that  sad  custom  in  those  days  of  a  man 
having  more  than  one  wife.  It  may  be  that  this  was 
the  way  by  which  people  came  to  see  the  mistakes  of 
that  custom  and  to  give  it  up,  and  to  understand  that 
the  only  true  home  was  that  in  which  there  was  only 
one  husband  and  one  wife.  I  can  fancy  that  Abraham 
then  and  there  began  to  understand  more  about  the  true 
kind  of  home  and  the  happiness  such  as  we  know  of 
nowadays. 

But  at  that  time  it  seemed  there  was  only  one  thing 
for  the  father  to  do.  Abraham  had  to  cast  out  Hagar 
and  her  child,  whose  name  was  Ishmael.  As  we  are 
told,  he  rose  up  early  in  the  morning  and  took  some 


62  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

bread  and  a  bottle  of  water  and  gave  it  unto  Hagar 
and  to  the  child,  and  sent  them  away.  And  so  they  de- 
parted, the  mother  and  her  child,  not  knowing  where 
they  would  go.  It  may  be  for  a  time  that  Hagar  did 
not  much  care,  as  long  as  she  had  her  precious  boy 
with  her.  She  loved  him  so  much  that  she  may  have 
felt  that  all  would  come  out  right  somehow. 

By  and  by  the  water  in  the  bottle  was  all  gone.  The 
food  that  had  been  given  her  was  all  eaten  up,  and 
nothing  was  left,  and  she  did  not  know  what  to  do. 
Perhaps,  in  her  despair,  she  had  not  made  any  effort  to 
provide  for  herself  and  child.  Perhaps  she  had  gone 
away  angry  and  thought  nothing  about  it.  Now,  at 
last,  it  seemed  as  if  there  was  no  hope  for  either  of 
them.  It  looked  to  her  as  if  there  was  only  death  for 
the  child,  and  she  must  die  with  it.  We  can  imagine 
her  feelings — her  anger  against  Abraham  and  Sarah, 
struggling  with  her  love  for  her  child. 

And  what  do  you  suppose  she  did?  She  knew  she 
could  not  stay  there  and  see  her  little  boy  starve  to 
death.  And  so  she  put  him  under  a  tree  where  it  was 
cool  in  the  shade,  and  then  she  went  a  little  distance 
away  to  lie  down  and  cry,  saying  in  her  agony  of  spirit, 
"Let  me  not  look  upon  the  death  of  my  child !"  Then, 
as  we  are  told,  she  lifted  up  her  voice  and  wept. 

I  suppose  it  never  crossed  the  mind  of  Abraham 
that  anything  of  this  kind  would  happen.  He  had 
probably  taken  it  for  granted  that  some  other  family 
would  look  after  Hagar  and  her  child,  because  in  those 
days  people  were  very  hospitable  in  many  ways  with 
strangers.  All  this  might  not  have  happened,  perhaps, 
if  Hagar  had  been  only  more  thoughtful.  You  see,  she 
had  been  angry,  and  now  she  was  getting  her  punish- 
ment. 

At  the  same  time,  the  Ruler  of  the  World  knew  all 
that  was  taking  place.  He  had  pity  on  Hagar.  He  felt 
sorry  for  her  because  she  had  been  cast  out,  and  he 
was  not  going  to  let  her  be  punished  too  far.  And  so 
he  came  to  speak  with  Hagar,  and  this  is  what  he  said, 
as  we  are  told :  "What  aileth  thee,  Hagar  ?  Fear  not. 
Arise;  lift  up  the  lad."  It  may  be,  in  her  grief,  she 


THE  PATRIARCHS.  63 

did  net  ktiOTJ-  where  the  words  came  from.  Perhaps 
she  heard  thsni  all  inside  of  herself.  But  at  any  rate 
she  dried  her  tears  and  arose.  The  child  was  there,  not 
very  far  away.  She  looked  at  it  with  a  heart  full  of 
love ;  and  then  what  do  you  suppose  she  saw  ?  Why, 
just  around  on  the  other  side  of  the  tree,  where  she  had 
not  looked,  was  a  well  of  water — all  that  she  wanted, 
and  more  besides — cool,  precious,  sparkling  water,  to 
drink  for  herself  and  child,  Ishmael.  It  was  a  pity  she 
had  not  looked  around  that  side  of  the  tree  at  first! 
Instead  of  that,  she  had  gone  away  to  cry. 

At  any  rate,  now  she  was  happy  at  last.  At  once 
she  rushed  to  the  well  and  drew  water  and  brought  it  to 
her  little  gasping  boy  to  drink.  And  afterwards  all 
went  very  well  with  Hagar  and  Ishmael.  They  found 
a  home  elsewhere.  It  may  be  that  Abraham  had  ar- 
ranged it  himself  in  this  way.  The  boy  grew  up  to 
manhood,  and  by  and  by  he,  too,  founded  another  great 
family  that  lived  in  another  part  of  the  world.  But  in 
our  story  we  do  not  hear  much  more  about  him  or  his 
mother,  Hagar.  And  so  we  go  back  to  Abraham  and 
Sarah;  and  we  shall  see  what  happened  to  their  little 
boy,  Isaac. 

To  THE  TEACHER  :  Do  not  enter  upon  a  discussion 
of  the  question  as  to. whether  Abram  did  right  in  cast- 
ing out  Hagar.  Treat  it  as  something  that  had  to  be 
done,  according  to  the  customs  of  the  time.  Have  quite 
a  little  to  say  concerning  the  evil  involved  in  bad  words 
or  strife,  and  what  comes  of  it  all.  Point  out  that  the 
punishment  would  not  have  fallen  upon  Hagar  if  she 
had  shown  the  right  kind  of  sentiment  all  along.  Raise 
the  query,  What  kind  of  feeling  did  she  have  for  Sarah  ? 
Dwell  for  a  time  on  this.  Talk  of  the  evils  of  boasting. 
Show  also  the  bad  conduct  of  the  boy  Ishmael.  Do  not 
overlook,  however,  the  true  motherly  tenderness  of 
Hagar.  Fix  clearly  in  the  minds  of  the  pupils  the  ac- 
count which  is  given  of  the  changing  of  the  names  of 
Abram  and  Sarah.  Show  a  picture  of  Hagar  departing 
with  Ishmael. 

MEMORY  VERSE:  What  ailith  thee,  Hagar f  Fear 
not.  Arise;  lift  up  the  lad. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
The  Destruction  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah. 

I  must  turn  aside  a  little  now  and  tell  you  of  some- 
thing dreadful  that  happened  in  those  early  days.  It 
is  positively  frightful,  even  to  think  of  it,  and  it  was 
connected  with  those  two  great  cities  which  I  have 
already  mentioned,  Sodom  and  Gomorrah. 

You  may  have  heard  of  the  names  of  those  two  cities 
before,  because  for  thousands  of  years  they  have  been 
talked  about,  owing  to  what  took  place  there ;  also  be- 
cause they  stood  for  all  that  was  thoroughly  bad  or 
wicked. 

As  you  remember,  the  Lord  had  promised  there 
should  never  be  a  flood  again  to  drown  the  earth.  But 
he  did  not  mean  by  this  that  wickedness  should  not  get 
punished,  and  sometimes  in  a  most  awful  way.  I  shall 
have  to  own  that,  even  after  the  Flood,  and  after  what 
took  place  on  the  Plains  of  Shinar,  where  the  people 
were  trying  to  build  their  Tower  of  Babel,  there  was 
still  a  great  deal  of  evil  in  the  world.  Noah  had  been 
a  good  man,  and  I  suppose  he  had  done  his  very  best 
to  bring  up  his  boys  in  the  right  way.  But  those  boys 
may  not  have  been  altogether  good,  and  they  may  have 
done  wrong  now  and  then.  And  then,  perhaps,  when 
they  grew  up  and  had  children  of  their  own,  these  chil- 
dren did  still  more  wrong. 

And  so  it  went  on,  and  there  was  a  great  deal  of  bad 
conduct  among  men.  But  of  all  the  places  in  the  world 
none  were  quite  so  bad,  we  are  told,  as  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah,  down  there  not  far  away  from  where  Lot 
had  chosen  his  home  on  the  Plain  of  Jordan.  All  of  the 
wickedness  I  have  described  to  you  as  having  existed  on 
the  earth  before  the  time  of  the  Flood,  had  come  back 

64 


THE;  PATRIARCHS.  65 

again  in  those  two  cities.  The  people  there,  were  mean 
and  selfish  and  bad  in  every  possible  way.  It  would 
seem  as  if  there  was  nothing  whatever  of  good  left  in 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah.  Evidently  the  time  had  come 
when  another  punishment  had  to  fall  on  some  of  the 
people  in  the  world,  in  order  to  make  them  still  remem- 
ber that  the  human  race  was  to  stand  for  what  was  right 
and  keep  away  from  evil.  At  any  rate,  we  are  told  that 
the  Ruler  of  the  World  had  decided  that  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah  should  be  destroyed. 

B,ut  there  was  Abraham  still  living  in  his  good  old 
age  not  far  away  over  in  Canaan.  And  the  Lord 
thought  it  well,  therefore,  that  Abraham  should  be  told 
of  what  was  to  happen ;  and  so  he  sent  three  messen- 
gers of  his  to  tell  the  old  patriarch  about  it.  And  there 
sat  Abraham  in  front  of  his  tent  in  the  heat  of  the  day. 
The  tent  had  been  placed  near  some  great,  huge  trees 
in  the  plains  of  Mamre.  And  as  he  sat  there  in  the 
shade  the  messengers  arrived.  Of  course,  Abraham 
did  not  know  that  these  men  were  messengers  from 
the  Great  Ruler,  and  not  like  ordinary  men.  Thinking 
they  were  strangers,  and  wanting  to  be  kind  to  them, 
he  arose  at  once  and  stepped  forward  to  meet  them, 
saying:  "Let  a  little  water,  I  pray  you,  be  fetched, 
and  wash  your  feet  and  rest  yourselves  under  the  tree ; 
and  I  will  fetch  a  morsel  of  bread,  and  comfort  ye  your 
hearts ;  after  that,  ye  shall  pass  on ;  forasmuch  are  ye 
come  to  me." 

You  see,  the  people  in  those  days  did  not  wear  shoes 
as  we  do  at  the  present  time,  but  a  kind  of  slipper  or 
sandal,  just  covering  the  sole  of  the  foot ;  and  it  was 
usual,  therefore,  for  them  to  wash  their  feet  in  the  same 
way  that  we  nowadays  wash  our  hands,  and  perhaps 
just  as  often.  And  they  said  to  Abraham :  "So  do,  as 
thou  hast  said." 

He  went  in  at  once  to  his  wife  Sarah,  in  a  great  hurry, 
eager  to  show  his  hospitality  to  the  three  strangers,  be- 
cause he  wanted  to  act  in  the  same  kindness  of  heart 
which  he  had  always  shown  in  past  times.  And  he  said 
quickly  to  Sarah,  his  wife :  "Make  ready  at  once  three 
measures  of  fine  meal,  knead  it  and  make  cakes."  Then 


66  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

he  ran  to  the  herd  and  brought  a  calf,  tender  and  good, 
and  gave  it  to  a  servant  in  order  that  it  should  be 
dressed.  As  soon  as  it  was  ready  he  took  butter  and 
milk  and  the  food  and  set  it  before  them,  and  he  stood 
by  them  under  the  tree,  and  they  did  eat.  Then,  when 
they  had  taken  their  meal  and  rose  up  to  go  away,  Abra- 
ham walked  along  with  them  for  a  while. 

At  last,  somehow,  it  became  known  to  him  who  they 
were — that  they  were  really  messengers  from  the  Ruler 
of  the  World,  and  not  just  ordinary  men.  They  had 
come  especially  to  tell  him  about  what  was  going  to 
happen  to  Sodom  and  Gomorrah. 

Then  Abraham  was  very  glad,  indeed,  that  he  had 
done  his  best  to  entertain  these  three  guests,  although 
he  had  done  it  not  knowing  they  were  messengers  from 
the  Lord.  And  this  is  why,  as  you  learn,  sometimes  we 
speak  of  "entertaining  angels  unawares,"  because  that 
is  what  had  been  done  by  Abraham.  In  those  days  such 
"messengers"  were  spoken  of  as  "angels." 

They  began  to  tell  Abraham  what  was  going  to  hap- 
pen, talking  about  the  awful  wickedness  of  those  two 
cities  and  how  they  must  be  destroyed.  This  made  the 
old  man  very  unhappy.  He  must  have  known  about 
the  wickedness  going  on  there.  Nevertheless  he  had  a 
tender  heart ;  he  still  hoped  they  might  do  better.  He 
did  not  like  to  think  that  all  those  people  would  have 
to  suffer  in  that  way.  He  had  an  idea  that  perhaps 
there  were  quite  a  number  of  good  people  in  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah,  and  it  struck  him  as  pretty  hard  that 
the  good  should  perish  with  the  bad.  So  Abraham 
turned  to  the  messengers  and  said:  "Wilt  thou  con- 
sume the  righteous  with  the  wicked?  Peradventure 
there  be  fifty  righteous  within  the  city ;  wilt  thou  con- 
sume and  not  spare  the  place  for  the  fifty  righteous 
that  are  therein  ?  Far  be  it  from  thee  to  do  after  this 
manner,  to  slay  the  righteous  with  the  wicked;  shall 
not  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  do  right  ?" 

You  see,  Abraham  knew  now  that  he  was  really 
talking  with  the  Great  Ruler,  and  thought  that  if  there 
were  fifty  people  in  all  those  great  cities,  those  cities 
ought  to  be  spared  on  their  account.  Then,  too,  I  think 


THE  PATRIARCHS.  67 

down  in  his  heart  he  wanted  to  try  to  save  the  other 
people,  hoping  that  they  would  repent  and  become  bet- 
ter by  and  by.  He  was  pleading,  therefore,  with  the 
Lord  Over  All,  and  trying  to  save  those  wicked  people 
from  the  awful  punishment  that  was  coming  upon 
them. 

As  the  Lord  heard  him,  he  turned  and  said,  speaking 
through  the  messengers,  we  assume :  "If  I  find  in  Sod- 
om fifty  righteous,  then  I  will  spare  all  the  place  for 
their  sake."  Then  at  first  Abraham  was  very  happy.  He 
felt  sure  there  must  be  at  least  fifty  good  people  in 
that  city.  And  he  was  about  to  turn  back,  when  sud- 
denly he  grew  a  little  anxious,  and  got  to  thinking 
about  the  awful  wickedness  which  he  had  been  told 
was  there.  It  came  to  his  mind  that,  perchance,  there 
were  not  fifty,  but  a  few  less?  Then,  of  course,  the 
whole  city  might  be  destroyed,  the  good  along  with 
the  evil.  The  thought  of  that  was  too  much  for  him, 
and  so  he  spoke  once  more,  saying:  "Behold,  now  I 
have  taken  it  upon  me  to  speak  unto  the  Lord ;  and  I 
am  but  dust  and  ashes"  .  .  .  Abraham  was  a 
very  modest  man,  as  I  have  told  you  all  along.  He  had 
never  been  proud  or  much  given  to  talking  about  him- 
self, or  to  showing  how  important  a  person  he  was; 
and  so  he  goes  on  to  say:  "Peradventure  there  shall 
lack  five  of  the  fifty  righteous,  wilt  thou  destroy  all  the 
city  for  the  lack  of  five  ?"  Abraham  felt  that  the  Ruler 
of  the  World  would  be  merciful,  and  take  pity  on  the 
forty-five,  and  he  expected  the  answer  which  came :  "I 
will  not  destroy  it  if  I  find  therein  forty-and-five."  This 
must  have  satisfied  Abraham,  and  we  can  see  him 
turning  around  to  go  back  to  his  tent,  while  the  mes- 
sengers walked  toward  Sodom  and  Gomorrah. 

But  he  had  not  gone  far  when  it  struck  him  that 
forty-five  were  many  people,  and  the  wickedness  of 
those  cities  came  to  him  again.  He  turned  quickly 
and  ran  after  the  messengers,  and  said :  "Peradventure 
there  shall  be  forty  found  there?"  and  the  messengers 
smiled  as  they  said :  "We  will  not  do  it  for  the  forty's 
sake." 

B,y  this  time  Abraham  thought  he  might  as  well  go 


68  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

on  and  plead  some  more,  instead  of  returning  home 
Even  forty,  he  feared,  would  make  a  good  many  peo- 
ple in  a  city  so  bad  as  that;  and  he  grew  more  and 
more  doubtful  whether  forty  good  people  could  be 
found  in  Sodom  and  Gomorrah.  And  so  he  says  hum- 
bly :  "Oh,  let  not  the  Lord  be  angry,  and  I  will  speak. 
Peradventure  there  shall  be  thirty  found  there  ?"  Again 
the  messengers  smiled  as  they  said :  "We  will  not  do 
it  if  we  find  thirty  there."  It  would  almost  seem  as  if 
Abraham  would  stop  now,  he  had  been  so  modest  in 
his  pleading;  but  his  heart  was  sore,  thinking  of  the 
awful  doom  to  fall  upon  those  cities.  He  could  not 
get  over  the  terrible  punishment  which  would  strike 
them;  and  so  he  makes  bold  to  plead  further,  and  he 
says :  "Behold,  now  I  have  taken  upon  me  to  speak 
unto  the  Lord:  peradventure  there  shall  be  twenty 
found  there?"  and  the  messengers  answered :  "It  shall 
not  be  destroyed  even  for  the  twenty's  sake."  But 
Abraham  would  not  desist.  He  was  going  to  get  all 
he  could  now  for  the  poor  cities,  and  so  he  said  once 
more:  "Oh,  let  not  the  Lord  be  angry:  peradventure 
ten  shall  be  found  there?"  And  the  reply  came:  "I 
will  not  destroy  it  for  the  ten's  sake." 

This  was  all  that  Abraham  could  ask.  Down  in  his 
heart  he  felt  pretty  sure  that  in  such  two  great  cities 
there  must  be  ten  good  people.  Then,  too,  I  fancy  it 
came  over  him  that  if  there  were  not  at  least  ten  good 
people  in  all  that  multitude,  the  punishment  would  be 
deserved.  He  gave  up  any  further  pleading,  there- 
fore, and  returned  to  his  tent,  and  the  messengers  went 
on  their  way  to  the  two  cities  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah. 

Now,  you  remember,  as  I  have  said,  that  Lot  and 
all  his  family  and  tribe  and  his  herdsmen  were  living 
near  those  cities  on  the  Plain  of  Jordan,  and  he  also 
had  a  dwelling  place  in  one  of  those  cities;  and  when 
the  messengers  arrived  there  they  knew  perfectly  well 
that  there  were  no  good  people  left  there  at  all  save 
just  this  one  man  Lot  and  his  wife.  They  had  known 
this  even  when  they  had  answered  the  pleadings  of 
Abraham. 

The  messengers  sought  out  Lot  in  his  home  there  in 


THE   PATRIARCHS.  69 

the  city  and  said  to  him:  "Hast  thou  here  any  be- 
sides? Sons-in-law,  and  thy  sons  and  daughters,  and 
whatsoever  thou  hast  in  the  city,  bring  them  out  of 
this  place.  The  Lord  hath  sent  us  to  destroy  it."  Then 
Lot  felt  most  unhappy.  He  remembered  what  had  hap- 
pened before,  when  the  kings  had  come  and  captured 
those  two  cities  and  carried  him  off  with  his  flocks 
and  herds.  And  it  seemed  to  him  now  that  he  was 
getting  much  the  worst  of  it  for  having  chosen  the 
Plain  of  Jordan.  Once  more  it  looked  to  him  as  though 
he  were  going  to  be  punished  for  having  been  so  quick 
in  taking  his  own  choice.  But  there  was  no  help.  It 
was  too  late  to  repent.  Perhaps  he  said  to  himself: 
"I  wish  I  had  not  done  it ;  I  wish  I  had  not  chosen  the 
Plain  of  Jordan." 

But  he  went  and  spoke  to  his  sons-in-law  and  their 
wives,  and  said  to  them  these  awful  words :  "Up ;  get 
you  out  of  this  place,  for  the  Lord  will  destroy  the 
city."  I  fear  the  sons-in-law  had  staid  too  long  in  the 
cities  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah.  Lot  himself  was  still 
a  man  of  good  character  and  knew  how  to  obey;  but 
those  sons  had  fallen  into  the  bad  ways  of  the  people 
there.  They,  too,  I  suppose,  had  been  wicked ;  and  so 
when  they  heard  his  words  they  smiled  as  if  their 
father  were  mocking  them.  Not  one  of  those  sons 
would  go.  It  was  very  evident  that  there  were  not  ten 
righteous  men  living  in  Sodom  and  Gomorrah. 

The  messengers  said  now  to  Lot :  "Arise :  take  thy 
wife  and  thy  two  daughters,  which  are  here,  lest  thou 
be  consumed  in  the  punishment  of  the  city."  And  as 
Lot  heard  the  words  he  started  to  go.  Then  he  stopped, 
for  he  hated  to  leave  everything  behind  him.  He  was 
not  so  quick  to  obey  as  Abraham.  And  yet,  because 
he  had  really  done  no  wrong  and  had  always  been  a 
good  man,  the  Great  Ruler  was  determined  to  save 
him  and  his  two  daughters  and  his  wife.  And  so  the 
messengers  caught  hold  of  him  by  the  shoulders  and 
took  the  hands  of  his  wife  and  two  daughters  and  led 
them  forth.  They  yielded  and  followed  for  a  time  sub- 
missively, until  they  were  safely  out  of  the  city.  The 
messengers  went  with  them  a  short  distance  to  make 


/*O  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

sure  that  they  would  not  turn  back  and  thus  lose  their 
lives. 

One  cannot  help  thinking  how  differently  Abraham 
would  have  acted ;  how  promptly  he  would  have  obeyed 
those  messengers.  There  would  not  have  been  any 
need  for  them  to  go  out  with  him  lest  he  should  turn 
back.  But  they  were  very  anxious  to  save  Lot  and 
his  wife  and  two  daughters,  and  so  they  went  with 
them  as  far  as  the  Lord  would  permit  them  to  go.  And 
the  messengers  said  to  Lot:  "Escape  now  for  thy 
life ;  look  not  behind  thee ;  neither  stay  thou  in  all  the 
plain.  Escape  to  the  mountains  lest  thou  be  con- 
sumed." 

Now,  what  do  you  suppose  Lot  did?  Start  right 
off  at  once  obediently  to  what  the  messengers  had  said  ? 
No ;  Lot  was  rather  a  timid  man,  not  bold  and  prompt 
like  Abraham.  He  was  good  at  heart  and  always 
meant  to  do  right ;  and,  as  a  rule,  with  some  exceptions, 
was  a  good  man.  And  so  the  Ruler  of  the  World 
did  not  want  to  punish  him  as  he  was  going  to  punish 
the  other  people  in  those  cities.  But,  as  we  see,  there 
was  something  weak  in  the  character  of  Lot,  which 
had  been  there  all  along.  And  we  are  rather  glad  for 
this  reason  that  he  was  not  to  be  the  founder  of  a  great 
family  like  Abraham.  Lot,  instead  of  moving  on  at  once 
to  the  mountain,  began  to  plead  with  the  messengers, 
asking  that  he  might  be  spared  from  doing  this;  and 
this  is  what  he  said  to  them  :  "Behold  now  thy  servant 
hath  found  grace  in  thy  sight,  and  thou  hast  magnified 
thy  mercy,  which  thou  hast  showed  unto  me  in  saving 
my  life;  if  I  escape  to  the  mountains,  evil  will  over- 
come me  and  I  shall  die ;  there  is  another  city  not  far 
away:  may  I  not  go  to  it?  Oh,  let  me  escape  thither 
and  my  soul  shall  live."  And  the  Lord  took  pity  on 
Lot,  seeing  the  weaker  side  of  his  character,  and  said 
to  him:  "I  have  accepted  thee  concerning  this  thing 
also,  that  I  will  not  overthrow  this  city  of  which  thou 
hast  spoken.  Haste  thee ;  escape  thither,  for  I  cannot 
do  anything  till  thou  be  come  thither." 

Hence  Lot  fled  away  with  his  wife  and  two  daugh- 
ters to  this  other  city,  which  was  called  Zoar.  Then 


THE   PATRIARCHS.  71 

came  the  awful  event  which  had  been  threatened  as  a 
punishment  upon  Sodom  and  Gomorrah. 

It  began  to  rain.  The  rain  this  time  was  not  like  that 
at  the  time  of  the  Flood.  It  was  not  cold  water  falling 
upon  the  earth,  drowning  it  little  by  little.  Rather,  it 
was  hot  fire  from  the  heavens — brimstone  and  fire 
coming  down  steadily  upon  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  from 
the  skies.  And  it  went  on  raining  brimstone  and  fire 
hour  after  hour,  until  the  two  whole  cities  were  cov- 
ered with  it,  and  all  the  people  in  them  were  destroyed, 
and  the  houses  and  palaces  and  homes  and  market 
places  were  burned  down,  and  everything  was  covered 
with  the  fire  and  brimstone.  Nothing  was  left — not 
even  a  sign, — so  that  no  one  would  know  that  any 
cities  had  ever  been  there. 

But  sad  to  say,  something  very  painful  happened 
to  the  family  of  Lot  during  this  awful  calamity.  One 
cannot  help  feeling  that  some  sort  of  punishment  would 
be  visited  on  them  for  their  hesitation  in  not  being 
ready  at  once  to  obey. 

It  seems,  as  we  are  told,  that  Lot's  wife,  as  they  went 
along,  got  to  thinking  more  and  more  about  their  home 
in  one  of  those  cities,  and  how  much  they  were  giving 
up  by  leaving  it;  and  then  I  fancy  she  might  have 
thought  that,  perhaps,  after  all,  the  awful  destruction 
would  not  come  and  that  they  were  foolish  for  being  so 
afraid.  How  did  she  know  that  wickedness  gets  pun- 
ished in  this  way?  Had  not  those  cities  gone  on  for 
a  long  time,  the  people  doing  just  as  they  pleased,  and 
nothing  bad  had  happened  to  them?  And,  as  she  got 
to  thinking  in  this  way,  she  began  to  linger  behind. 

The  others  were  moving  very  fast,  walking  or  run- 
ning, to  escape  to  the  city  of  Zoar,  and  they  did  not 
notice  that  she  was  not  with  them  until  it  was  too  late. 
She  had  turned  around  and  looked  back,  then  stood 
still,  hesitating  whether  to  return,  or  to  run  on  again 
with  the  others.  And  as  she  stood  there,  the  rain  of 
fire  and  brimstone  fell  down  upon  her,  coveringi  her 
all  over,  so  that  her  body  remained  like  a  pillar  of 
salt. 

When  Lot  and  his  daughters  escaped  to  the  city  of 


'72  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

Zoar,  they  found,  to  their  sorrow,  that  the  wife  and 
mother  was  not  there  with  them.  It  was  too  late  for 
them  to  do  anything.  Nothing  was  to  be  done,  for 
they  knew  she  must  have  perished. 

And  all  the  while  there  was  Abraham  over  in  his 
tent,  waiting  to  see  what  would  happen,  hoping  that 
his  plea  had  saved  the  cities  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah. 
It  is  said  that  early  in  the  morning  of  the  next  day  he 
arose  and  looked  out  far  away  to  where  those  cities 
had  been;  and  you  know  what  he  saw.  As  we  are 
told :  "Lo,  the  smoke  of  the  land  went  up  as  the  smoke 
of  a  furnace." 

And  that  was  the  end  of  those  two  wicked  cities  of 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah. 

To  THE  TEACHER:  Make  this  a  theme  suggestive 
of  the  awfulness  of  wickedness  as  such,  and  how  of 
itself  it  deserves  punishment.  Stir  a  feeling  of  horror 
in  regard  to  it,  as  if  somehow  and  sometime  it  must 
meet  with  punishment.  In  a  vague  way,  hint  at  this 
as  a  law  of  history,  or  of  the  very  nature  of  things — 
although  not  saying  it  in  precisely  these  terms  or  trying 
to  explain  the  process.  Touch  again  upon  the  troubles 
of  Lot.  Make  a  good  deal  of  the  terible  mistake  of 
Lot's  wife  in  not  doing  exactly  what  was  commanded. 
Point  out  the  danger  of  wanting  to  do  what  is  right 
and  what  is  wrong  at  the  same  time,  or  of  not  being 
obedient  at  heart.  Dwell  upon  the  beautiful  picture  of 
hospitality  in  the  beginning  of  the  story.  Make  much 
of  the  pleading  of  Abraham,  because  of  the  way  it  has 
gone  into  the  common  speech  of  the  world.  Show  pic- 
tures of  the  Dead  Sea,  as  the  supposed  site  of  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah.  Put  on  the  blackboard  the  terms  or 
expressions :  "Look  not  behind  thee"  and  "Entertain- 
ing angels  unawares." 

MEMORY  VERSES  :  Wilt  thou  consume  the  righteous 
with  the  wicked?  Per  adventure  there  be  fifty  right- 
eous within  the  city;  wilt  thou  consume  and  not  spare 
the  place  for  the  fifty  righteous  that  are  therein?  Far 
be  it  from  thee  to  do  after  this  manner,  to  consume 
the  righteous  with  the  wicked.  Shall  not  the  Judge 
of  all  the  earth  do  right? 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
Abraham  Tested. 

You  must  learn  a  little  now  about  the  boy  Isaac,  the 
child  of  Abraham  and  his  wife,  Sarah.  As  Ishmael 
had  gone  away  with  the  other  wife,  Hagar,  this  child, 
you  see,  was  all  the  dearer  to  Abraham.  He  kept 
thinking  what  a  great,  strong  man  the  boy  would  be- 
come when  grown  up,  and  how  he  could  depend  upon 
him  to  take  his  place  and  be  the  head  of  the  tribe  and 
receive  all  his  wealth  when  he  should  die.  I  fancy 
he  cared  more  for  this  boy  than  for  all  his  flocks  and 
herds  and  silver  and  gold  taken  together.  Probably  he 
would  rather  have  lost  them  all — money  and  flocks  and 
herds — and  have  nothing  left,  than  to  have  lost  this 
boy  Isaac. 

Abraham  had  been  quite  an  old  man  when  Isaac 
was  born.  He  did  not  expect,  therefore,  to  have  any 
other  children ;  hence  his  whole  heart  was  set  on  this 
boy.  He  liked  to  go  wherever  the  child  went,  and 
play  with  him  and  educate  him  in  every  possible  way. 
It  was  plain  that  he  loved  his  child  much  more  than 
he  had  ever  loved  himself,  because,  as  we  have  said  all 
along,  Abraham  was  not  a  selfish  man. 

All  the  while,  as  we  are  told,  the  Ruler  of  the  World 
had  been  watching  over  Abraham  and  his  family,  think- 
ing how  this  man  might  be  the  father  of  many  nations, 
and  how  all  the  world  should  be  blessed  through  this 
man's  family.  And  he  decided  to  put  Abraham  to  a 
test.  You  know  what  that  means — being  put  to  a 
test.  It  comes  pretty  hard,  sometimes ;  and  any  num- 
ber of  people  have  failed  who  have  been  put  to  a  test. 
They  may  have  been  looked  upon  as  good  and  true 
and  strong  and  brave.  They  may  have  thought  that 

73 


74  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

way  of  themselves,  never  doubting  that  they  would 
do  what  was  told  them,  and  would  stand  up  always 
for  what  was  right.  But,  then,  when  the  test  came,  and 
the  trial  was  before  them,  they  would  break  down 
altogether,  because  they  were  not  as  strong  as  they 
thought  they  were;  they  had  been  weak  and  did  not 
know  it.  This,  of  course,  would  be  an  awful  blow  to 
them  and  to  all  who  knew  them.  It  would  almost 
seem  as  if  Abraham,  being  an  old  man  now,  had  been 
put  to  enough  trials  and  that  he  should  have  had  peace 
for  the  rest  of  his  days. 

But  no;  the  Lord  Over  All  was  determined  to  put 
him  to  one  more  severe  test;  and  it  was  the  most 
awful  one  that  could  be  thought  of.  It  was  to  be 
decided  whether  Abraham  would  obey,  even  if  he  was 
commanded  to  give  up  his  darling  boy,  Isaac.  And 
so  one  day  the  Great  Ruler  spoke  to  him  and  said: 
"Abraham !"  and  he  answered  obediently,  "Here  am  I." 
Then  came  the  awful  words — think  how  they  must 
have  struck  on  the  father's  heart — "Take  now  thy 
son,  thine  only  son  Isaac,  whom  thou  lovest,  even 
Isaac,  and  get  thee  into  the  land  of  M'oriah,  and  offer 
him  there  for  a  burnt  offering  upon  one  of  the  mount- 
ains which  I  will  tell  thee  of." 

You  know  what  this  meant.  You  remember  we 
described  the  altars  at  the  time  when  Adam  and  Eve 
were  bringing  up  their  sons,  Cain  and  Abel ;  and  you 
recollect  how  Cain  and  Abel  made  their  offerings  on 
an  altar.  It  meant,  you  see,  sacrifice — sacrificing  life. 
Usually  it  was  the  life  of  some  tender  young  animal. 
But  now  Abraham  was  called  upon  to  offer  up  the  life 
of  his  own  son — his  only  child — in  obedience  to  the 
Lord's  command.  Can  you  think  of  any  severer  test? 
Was  it  not  something  awful  for  poor  old  Abraham? 
He  had  waited  so  many  long  years  for  this  child — it 
was  his  last  hope — in  order  that  he  might  have  a  family 
to  come  after  him.  If  this  boy  were  to  be  taken 
away,  he  felt  sure  he  would  go  down  in  sorrow  to  his 
grave. 

It  would  not  have  surprised  us  much  if  Abraham, 
>n  his  old  age,  had  refused,  and  said  No.  It  may  b€ 


THE  PATRIARCHS.  75 

we  should  have  almost  forgiven  him,  because  of  his 
great  love  for  his  only  son,  Isaac.  But  far  back  in 
his  younger  days  Abraham  had  begun  by  learning  how 
to  obey.  When  he  had  been  told  to  arise  and  leave  the 
land  of  the  Chaldees,  he  started  out  into  an  unknown 
country  without  a  question,  and  started  at  once.  It 
had  been  his  practice  all  his  life  to  obey  rules  and  com- 
mands. 

And  now,  therefore,  in  spite  of  the  anguish  in  his 
heart,  he  did  not  wait.  I  suppose  from  this  moment 
all  the  joy  of  life  went  out  for  him;  probably  he  never 
expected  to  have  any  happiness  again  for  the  rest  of 
his  days.  But  there  was  one  thing  he  was  going  to 
do,  anguish  or  no  anguish  :  He  was  going  to  obey. 

Early  in  the  morning  he  took  two  of  his  young  men 
with  him,  and  Isaac,  his  son :  and  he  prepared  the  wood 
for  the  burnt  offering,  and  rose  up  and  went  to  the 
place  of  which  the  Great  Ruler  had  told  him.  It  was 
quite  a  long  distance  from  where  he  lived  to  this 
other  land,  at  that  time,  two  or  three  days'  journey. 
This  made  it  seem  all  the  harder  and  made  the  test 
much  worse.  Many  persons  can  obey  if  they  can  do 
at  once  what  has  been  told  them ;  but  when  they  must 
wait  quite  a  while,  and  thus  have  time  to  think  it 
over,  then  it  is  another  matter. 

And  all  this  while,  throughout  all  the  weary  journey, 
Abraham  must  have  been  thinking  deeply — thinking 
of  his  only  child,  whom  he  was  to  give  up.  I  am  sure 
he  could  not  have  slept  one  moment,  day  or  night,  while 
on  that  journey.  The  temptation  must  have  been  very 
severe  for  him  to  change  his  mind  and  go  back  again. 
But  the  habit  he  had  formed  of  always  obeying,  staid 
with  him  now.  Long  and  weary  as  the  journey  was, 
he  did  not  falter.  On  he  went,  with  his  boy,  until  he 
came  at  last  to  the  land  of  Moriah.  When  all  was 
ready,  Abraham  took  the  wood  of  the  burnt  offering 
and  laid  it  upon  Isaac,  his  son,  and  he  took  in  his 
hand  the  fire  and  the  knife ;  and  they  went  both  of  them 
together. 

As  yet  the  boy  knew  nothing  of  what  was  to  hap-* 
pen.  He  had  been  educated  to  obey  in  the  same  way 


76  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

as  his  father,  Abraham.  He  did  not  even  ask  any 
questions,  but  followed  on  faithfully  during  those  sev- 
eral days  in  which  they  journeyed.  But  now,  when 
everything  was  in  readiness,  he  turned  to  his  father 
and  said:  "My  father?"  And  the  father  said:  "Here 
am  I,  my  son/'  And  the  boy  said:  "Behold  the  fire 
and  the  wood,  but  where  is  the  lamb  for  the  burnt 
offering?"  And  Abraham  said:  "The  Lord  will  pro- 
vide the  lamb  for  a  burnt  offering,  my  son."  And  so 
they  went,  both  of  them,  to  the  place  together.  And 
Abraham  built  the  altar  there  and  laid  the  wood  in 
order  and  bound  Isaac,  his  son,  and  laid  him  on  the 
altar  upon  the  wood.  All  this  time  the  boy  said  never  a 
word.  He  did  not  know  what  was  to  be  done.  He 
asked  no  more  questions,  but  quietly  submitted  to 
whatever  Abraham  was  doing,  with  a  full  trust  in  his 
heart. 

The  moment  had  arrived.  The  sacrifice  was  to  be 
made.  Abraham  was  ready  for  the  test — to  stretch 
forth  his  hand  grasping  the  knife,  and  slay  his  son. 
Then  the  Ruler  of  the  World  knew  that  this  man 
could  be  trusted,  and  could  obey,  that  one  man  at  least 
was  willing  to  give  up,  and  not  always  wanting  to  have 
his  own  way. 

As  Abraham  was  just  about  to  strike  with  his  knife, 
he  heard  a  voice  speaking  to  him,  saying,  "Abraham !" 
And  he  answered,  "Here  am  I."  And  the  voice  con- 
tinued :  "Lay  not  thine  hand  upon  the  lad ;  neither 
do  thou  anything  unto  him ;  for  now  I  know  that  thou 
art  willing  to  obey  my  voice,  seeing  that  thou  hast  not 
withheld  thy  son,  thine  only  son." 

Then  Abraham  lifted  up  his  eyes  and  looked,  and 
there  was  a  ram  near  by,  caught  in  a  thicket  by  his 
horns.  He  felt  that  he  was  called  upon  to  make  a  burnt 
offering  of  some  kind  on  the  altar,  and  so  he  went  and 
took  the  ram  and  offered  it  up  as  a  burnt  offering  in 
the  stead  of  his  son. 

Once  more,  then,  came  the  promise  which  Abraham 
had  received  in  his  younger  days.  Now  he  knew  what 
it  meant.  And  the  voice  of  the  Great  Ruler  said  to 
him  again:  "Because  thou  hast  done  this  thing  and 


THE   PATRIARCHS.  77 

hast  been  willing  to  give  up  thy  son,  thine 
only  son;;  remember  that  in  blessing,  I  will 
bless  thee.  In  thee  and  thy  family  shall  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth  be  blest." 

And  so  Abraham,  with  a  glad  heart,  took  his  boy 
and  went  back  home  again,  happy  that  his  son  was 
spared  and  that  he  had  shown  courage  and  fulfilled 
his  duty. 

To  THE  TEACHER  :  This  is  a  most  important  lesson, 
add  yet  one  which  may  be  found  very  difficult  to 
handle  in  just  the  most  suitable  way.  You  wish  to 
make  the  children  feel  that  Abraham  did  right  in  obey- 
ing, and  yet  not  to  let  them  feel  that  human  sacrifice 
can  possibly  be  right  in  itself.  In  a  vague  way,  how- 
ever, you  can  suggest  that  one's  duty  stands  even 
above  father  or  mother  love  and  must  always  come 
first.  If  the  questions  should  come  as  to  why  Sarah 
was  not  also  consulted,  the  answer  may  be  given  that 
it  was  not  the  custom  in  those  days  for  mothers  to  have 
the  same  position  of  authority  in  the  family  as  at  the 
present  time.  Speak  of  it  all  as  belonging  to  a  far,  far 
away  world.  Discuss  what  a  "test"  means,  and  show 
how  people  are  constantly  being  tested  in  small  things 
without  knowing  it.  Dwell  much  on  the  obedient  spirit 
of  Abraham,  this  great  man  who  had  had  so  much 
power  and  was  so  free  to  do  as  he  pleased..  Point  out 
the  gentle  spirit  of  Isaac  and  his  trust  in  his  father. 
Emphasize  the  promptitude  of  Abraham's  obedience. 

MEMORY  VERSES  :  Lay  not  thine  hand  upon  the  lad; 
neither  do  thou  anything  to  him;  for  now  I  know  that 
thou  art  willing  to  obey  my  voice,  seeing  that  thou 
hast  not  uithheld  thy  son,  thine  only  son. 

Because  thou  hast  done  this  thing  and  hast  been 
willing  to  give  up  thy  son,  thine  only  son,  remem- 
ber that  in  blessing  I  will  bless  thee.  In  thee  and  thy 
family  shall  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  be  blessed. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Choice  of  a  Family  Tomb. 

By  this  time,  as  you  will  see,  Abraham  and  Sarah 
had  become  very  old.  And  in  those  days,  according 
to  the  stories  that  have  come  down  to  us,  people  used 
to  live  a  good  deal  longer  than  they  do  at  the  present 
time.  Abraham  and  Sarah  were,  both  of  them,  as  we 
are  told,  over  a  hundred  years  old.  And  now,  just  as 
the  boy  Isaac  was  growing  .up  into  young  manhood, 
his  mother  died  at  the  age  of  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven. 

We  can  hardly  realize  all  this  nowadays.  We  are 
certain  that  Abraham  was  very  sad  over  the  loss  of  his 
wife,  and  must  have  shed  many  tears.  It  came  very 
hard  for  him  to  part  with  her  in  his  old  age,  although 
it  was  not  quite  so  great  a  blow  to  him  now,  because 
he  had  a  boy,  Isaac;  and  he  remembered  the  promise 
that  had  been  made  to  him,  how,  through  him  and  his 
family,  some  time  in  the  future  all  the  world  was  to  be 
blessed. 

The  occasion  had  come  for  him  to  choose  a  family 
tomb  or  burying  place.  Up  to  the  present  it  would 
seem  as  if  he  had  thought  nothing  about  it.  If  he 
had  been  back  in  his  old  home  in  the  land  of  the 
Chaldees,  where  he  had  been  born,  it  would  have  been 
easy  enough  to  have  found  a  suitable  tomb  for  his 
family. 

But,  you  see,  here  he  was,  alone  with  his  flocks 
and  herds  and  the  people  around  him — the  herdsmen 
and  their  families — but,  for  the  most  part,  among 
strangers  who  had  been  living  in  Canaan  long  before 
he  had  come  there.  It  was  necessary,  therefore,  that 

78 


THE  PATRIARCHS.  79 

he  should  go  to  them  and  arrange  to  have  them  allow 
him  a  burial  place  in  their  land.  And  he  addressed 
them  in  these  words :  "I  am  a  stranger  and  a  sojourner 
near  you ;  give  me  possession  of  a  burying  place  with 
you  that  I  may  bury  my  dead." 

You  notice,  Abraham  was  inclined  always  to  have 
very  modest  manners.  He  always  spoke  humbly,  as 
you  remember.  He  did  not  put  himself  forward  or 
talk  boastfully,  or  act  as  if  he  had  a  right  there,  because 
he  was  a  man  of  great  wealth.  He  went  to  these  peo- 
ple in  a  simple  manner,  therefore,  and  told  them  his 
need,  asking  them  that  they  would  grant  his  request. 
I  suppose  it  was  this  way  that  Abraham  had  which 
caused  him  to  be  so  successful  and  prosperous  there, 
and  led  him  to  make  so  few  enemies.  It  was  plain  that 
the  people  among  whom  he  was  a  stranger  thought  very 
highly  of  him,  because  this  is  what  they  said  in  reply : 
"Hear  us  now ;  thou  art  a  mighty  prince  among  us ;  in 
the  choice  of  our  sepulchres,  bury  thy  dead;  none  of 
us  hath  withheld  from  thee  his  sepulchre ;  take  the  one 
thou  desirest." 

Certainly  this  must  have  pleased  Abraham  very 
much,  that  these  people  among  whom  he  had  been  a 
stranger  should  speak  so  kindly  to  him;  and  he  must 
have  been  more  than  glad  that  he  had  always  been  mod- 
est and  humble  in  his  conduct  towards  them  during  all 
the  years  he  had  lived  there.  It  must  have  been  a 
great  happiness  to  him  in  this  bereavement,  to  know 
that  he  had  friends  all  around  him  who  felt  kindly 
toward  him. 

He  ^  thought  carefully  over  the  matter  for  a  while 
as  to  just  where  he  would  like  to  have  a  sepulchre  for 
his  family,  in  which  he  would  lay  the  body  of  his  wife 
Sarah  away.  It  was  a  very  important  matter  to  him, 
because  now  he  thought  of  his  family  in  future  times, 
and  how  the  place  he  might  choose  would  become  the 
family  tomb.  At  last  he  made  up  his  mind  and  said 
to  the  people:  "If  it  be  your  mind  that  I  should  bury 
my  dead  in  this  land,  then  hear  me  and  entreat  for  me 
to  Ephron,  the  son  of  Zohar,  that  he  may  give  me  the 
cave  of  Machpelah,  which  is  in  the  end  of  his  field ;  for 


80  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

the  full  price  let  him  give  it  to  me  in  the  midst  of  you 
for  a  possession  of  a  burying  place." 

And  so  they  went  to  Ephron  and  told  him  the  desire 
of  Abraham;  how  this  prince  and  stranger  amongst 
them  desired  the  cave  of  Machpelah  in  the  field  belong- 
ing to  him.  It  may  be  that  Ephron  had  wished  to 
keep  this  cave  for  himself  as  a  tomb  for  his  own  family. 
But  he  was  generous  about  it,  and  was  quite  willing 
to  give  it  up.  A  large  number  of  people  had  come 
together  and  were  assembled  at  the  gates  of  one  of 
their  cities  in  Canaan  waiting  to  hear  the  reply  which 
he  would  make  to  Abraham.  And  this  is  what  he  said 
to  him:  'Nay,  hearken  unto  me.  The  field  give  I 
thee,  and  the  cave  that  is  therein,  I  give  it  to  thee;  in 
the  presence  of  the  sons  of  my  people  give  I  it  to  thee ; 
bury  thy  dead." 

Then,  as  we  are  told,  Abraham  bowed  himself  down 
before  the  people  of  the  land.  He  felt  very  much 
pleased,  indeed,  over  the  kindness  on  the  part  of 
Ephron.  He  wanted  somehow  to  show  his  gratitude — 
at  least  to  pay  something  for  the  land  which  was  given 
to  him.  And  so  he  said  to  Ephron :  "If  thou  wilt,  pray 
thee  hear  me:  I  will  give  the  price  of  the  field;  take 
it  of  me,  and  I  will  bury  my  dead  there." 

I  fancy  that  Ephron  would  rather  have  given  the 
land  outright  to  Abraham,  and  not  received  any  money 
for  it  at  all.  But  he  saw  that  Abraham  wanted  to  pay 
for  it,  and  would  feel  happier  if  allowed  to  do  so.  The 
money  was  nothing  to  him,  as  he  had  wealth  enough 
already;  but  he  was  going  to  act  in  the  same  spirit  of 
kindness  with  which  he  had  begun,  and  so  he  said  to 
Abraham :  "My  Lord,  hearken  unto  me :  a  piece  of  land 
worth  four  hundred  shekels  of  silver — what  is  that 
betwixt  me  and  thee?  Bury,  therefore,  thy  dead." 

This  made  it  all  right,  and  everything  was  satisfac- 
tory between  the  two  men.  And  Abraham  hearkened 
unto  Ephron,  and  he  weighed  out  the  silver  which  had 
been  named  to  him,  four  hundred  shekels  of  silver. 
And  in  this  way  the  field  of  Ephron,  which  was  in 
Machpelah,  and  the  cave  which  was  therein,  and  all 
the  trees  that  were  in  the  field,  that  were  in  all  the 


THE   PATRIARCHS.  8l 

borders  thereof  round  about,  were  made  sure  unto 
Abraham  for  a  possession,  before  all  that  went  in  at 
the  gate  of  the  city. 

Abraham  was  now  ready  to  bury  the  body  of  his 
dear  wife  Sarah.  He  had  found  a  family  tomb  and 
was  to  place  the  body  away  in  the  cave  in  the  field  of 
Machpelah,  in  the  Land  of  Canaan;  and  the  field  and 
the  cave  that  is  therein  were  made  sure  unto  Abraham 
ever  after  as  a  burying  place  for  his  family. 

To  THE  TEACHER  :  The  story  is  introduced  mainly 
because  it  forms  a  part  of  the  general  narrative.  If 
you  can  do  so,  emphasize  the  gentle  spirit  of  Abraham 
and  the  beautiful  relationship  between  him  and  the  peo- 
ple of  the  country.  Show  how  he  displayed  the  right 
spirit  as  a  stranger  in  not  being  arrogant  because  he 
was  very  rich  and  powerful.  Emphasize  the  evil  of 
arrogance. 

MEMORY  VERSE:  I  am  a  stranger  and  so  journey 
near  you;  give  me  possession  of  a  burying  place  with 
you  that  I  may  bury  my  dead. 


CHAPTER  X. 
Choosing  a  Wife  for  Isaac— The  Death  of  Abraham 

Abraham  was  now  left  without  a  wife,  all  alone  with 
his  boy  Isaac.  He  had  his  great  tent,  in  which  he  and 
his  boy  lived  with  the  herdsmen  all  around  him — alone 
with  all  his  wealth  of  silver  and  gold  and  flocks  of  sheep 
and  herds  of  cattle.  But  one  thing  troubled  the  old 
man.  He  did  not  want  to  die  until  his  boy  Isaac  should 
have  a  wife.  If  only  this  could  be  arranged,  then  the 
old  man  felt  he  could  die  in  peace. 

In  those  days  it  was  a  usual  thing  for  a  father  to 
choose  a  wife  for  his  son ;  and  Isaac  was  now  a  grown 
man  and  ready  to  marry.  But  Abraham  did  not  want 
his  boy,  as  he  thought  of  him,  to  marry  among 
strangers.  The  people  there  did  not  have  the  same 
customs.  They  had  been  kind  enough  to  him,  and  he 
felt  very  kindly  toward  them.  But  still  he  wanted 
very  much,  indeed,  that  his  son  should  have  a  wife  from 
among  his  own  people,  far  away  in  the  land  of  the 
Chaldees. 

He  did  not  quite  know  how  to  arrange  it  at  first.  He 
was  an  old  man — too  old,  I  suppose,  to  travel  very  far. 
Then,  too,  you  remember,  he  had  been  charged  to  go 
away  and  remain  in  Canaan ;  and  somehow  it  seemed  to 
him  that  if  he  were  to  return  to  the  land  of  the 
Chaldees,  he  might  break  the  command  which  had  been 
laid  upon  him.  What  is  more,  it  struck  him  for  the 
same  reason  that  he  ought  not  to  send  Isaac  back  there. 
You  see  how  careful  he  was  to  obey.  Through  all 
these  long  years,  since  he  had  been  a  young  man,  he 
had  remembered  the  command  put  upon  him  by  the 
Great  Ruler,  how  he  was  to  go  far  away  into  this  new 
country  and  found  a  home  and  family  there. 


THE  PATRIARCHS.  83 

And  so,  after  awhile,  when  he  had  thought  about  it 
quite  a  long  time,  sitting  evening  after  evening  in  the 
front  of  his  tent,  he  finally  decided  how  he  would  act.% 
It  came  to  him  at  last  that  he  would  send  one  of  his 
men  far  away  to  the  land  of  the  Chaldees,  who  should 
try  and  find  a  wife  there  for  Isaac  and  bring  her  back 
to  him  here  in  Canaan.  Perhaps  it  was  not  a  very 
easy  thing  to  do;  but  he  was  going  to  carry  out  this 
plan,  if  possible. 

He  called  one  of  his  men  to  him,  whom  he  knew  he 
could  trust,  and  there,  in  the  evening  time,  in  the  cool 
of  the  day,  he  said  to  this  man :  "Put,  I  pray  thee,  thy 
hand  on  my  thigh."  And  thus  the  man  did,  as  he  was 
told  to  do,  without  asking  any  questions.  He  knew  that 
something  very  important  was  coming,  because  this 
was  an  old  custom  among  people  in  those  days  and 
meant  a  great  deal. 

And  when  the  man  had  done  so,  Abraham  asked  of 
him  a  solemn  promise,  saying :  "I  will  make  thee  prom- 
ise that  thou  shalt  not  take  a  wife  for  my  son  from 
the  daughters  of  the  people  here  in  Canaan,  among 
whom  I  dwell;  but  that  thou  shalt  go  to  my  country 
and  to  my  kindred  and  there  take  a  wife  for  my  son 
Isaac."  The  man  thought  about  it.  He  wanted  to 
make  the  promise ;  but  he  did  not  see  how  it  could  be 
carried  out  easily.  He  might  take  that  journey,  and 
after  he  got  there  find  that  there  would  not  be  any 
father  who  would  allow  his  daughter  to  go  back  with 
him  alone  into  the  land  of  Canaan.  Then  he  said 
to  Abraham,  in  the  language  of  those  days:  "Perad- 
venture  the  woman  will  not  be  willing  to  follow  me 
into  this  land  ?  I  need  to  take  thy  son  with  me." 

Now,  this  is  just  what  Abraham  did  not  want.  He 
would  not  listen  to  it  for  a  moment;  for  this  would 
seem  to  him,  as  we  have  said,  as  if  he  were  breaking 
the  command  laid  upon  him  many,  many  years  ago. 
He  was  going  to  obey.  And  he  answered  the  man,  say- 
ing: "Beware  that  thou  bring  not  my  son  into  that 
country.  The  Lord  over  all  told  me  to  come  here  and 
leave  the  land  of  my  nativity,  and  said  that  I  should 


64  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

make  this  my  home,  and  found  my  family  here  in 
Canaan ;  go  thou,  therefore,  as  I  have  told  thee ;  if  the 
woman  be  not  willing  to  follow  thee,  then  shalt  thou 
be  clear  from  thy  promise ;  only  go  thou,  and  try ;  if  it 
is  not  possible,  yet  thou  shalt  not  bring  my  son  there." 

Then  the  man  knew  he  must  do  his  best  and  try,  at 
any  rate,  to  get  a  wife  for  Isaac  in  the  land  of  the 
Chaldees,  without  taking  Isaac  with  him.  You  see, 
people  there  had  learned  to  obey  Abraham  and  do  what- 
ever he  told  them.  The  man,  therefore,  put  his  hand 
again  on  the  thigh  of  Abraham  and  made  the  promise. 
Then  he  took  ten  camels  and  started  away,  having  with 
him  also  a  great  deal  of  wealth  from  Abraham,  which 
he  might  use  as  gifts  among  the  people  to  whom  he 
should  go. 

In  those  days  it  was  usual  to  travel  with  camels,  be- 
cause they  had  to  go  over  very  long  sand  wastes  or 
deserts,  where  there  was  no  water  to  drink.  They  had 
to  carry  their  water  with  them,  and,  as  you  know, 
camels  can  go  a  long  time  without  drinking.  And  so 
the  man  started  with  his  camels,  making  up  what  was 
called  a  caravan,  and  came  at  last  to  the  land  where 
Abraham  had  been  born,  into  a  city  called  Nahor. 

He  had  been  thinking  all  the  while,  as  he  traveled 
over  the  desert  with  his  camels,  what  he  should  do  and 
how  he  should  try  to  find  a  wife  for  Isaac.  And  as 
he  drew  near  the  city  he  saw  a  well  of  water  close  by, 
and  he  made  the  camels  kneel  down  and  drink  from  the 
well. 

In  that  faraway  country  they  did  not  have  many 
wells  and  a  great  supply  of  water  such  as  we  have  in 
our  cities  nowadays.  Most  of  the  wells  were  situated 
just  outside  of  the  cities ;  and  it  was  the  custom  for  the 
people  to  come  out  at  evening-time  and  draw  water. 
Then,  too,  in  those  days  it  was  the  women,  rather  than 
the  men,  who  came  out  to  draw  water. 

All  of  a  sudden,  after  all  his  thinking,  it  came  to  this 
man  how  he  would  act  in  choosing  a  wife  for  Isaac. 
He  said  to  himself:  "Behold,  I  stand  by  this  well  of 
water,  and  the  daughters  of  the  men  of  the  city  will 


THE   PATRIARCHS.  85 

come  out  to  draw  water ;  now  let  it  come  to  pass  that 
the  damsel — that  was  what  they  called  the  young  girls 
in  those  days — to  whom  I  shall  say,  'Let  down  thy 
pitcher,  I  pray  thee,  that  I  may  drink/  and  she  shall 
say,  'Drink,  and  I  will  give  thy  camels  drink  also' ;  let 
the  same  be  she  whom  I  shall  choose  as  wife  for 
Isaac." 

Can  you  see  why  he  decided  to  act  in  this  way?  I 
think  it  must  have  been  because  he  felt  that  the  one 
who  should  offer  him  water  to  drink,  and  also  give 
water  to  his  camels,  would  naturally  be  a  woman  of 
a  kind  and  true  heart — just  the  sort  of  wife  he  would 
want  to  find  for  the  son  of  his  dear  old  master,  Abra- 
ham. It  was  not  a  bad  way,  after  all,  because  he  was 
among  strangers  and  could  not  have  been  able  to  de- 
cide very  easily  in  any  other  way,  even  if  he  had  gone 
from  one  family  to  another. 

The  moment  had  come,  therefore,  that  was  to  show 
whether  a  wife  could  be  found  for  Isaac  here  among 
the  people  in  the  land  of  the  Chaldees.  The  sun  was 
just  setting  and  the  air  was  becoming  cool,  when  the 
man  saw  the  women  passing  out  from  the  gate  of  the 
city.  And  as  he  waited,  behold,  he  saw  a  beautiful 
young  woman  approaching,  whose  name  was  Rebekah. 
She  drew  near,  and  went  to  the  well  and  filled  her 
pitcher  with  water.  Then  the  man  approached  her 
and  said  gently :  "Give  me  to  drink,  I  pray  thee,  a  little 
water  of  thy  pitcher."  I  suppose  she  was  startled  at 
first;  but  it  was  a  rule  in  those  days  to  be  kindly 
towards  strangers,  and  this  girl  had  evidently  been  well 
brought  up.  There  was  something  about  the  man  so 
gentle  that  she  had  no  fear.  And  she  answered  kindly : 
"Drink,  my  lord;"  and  she  laid  down  her  pitcher  and 
gave  him  a  drink.  Then  the  man  waited,  seeing  what 
she  would  do,  or  how  she  would  act.  So  far  it  had 
gone  all  very  well  and  he  felt  quite  pleased.  As  he 
stood  waiting,  she  turned  to  him  and  said:  "I  will 
draw  for  thy  camels  also,  until  they  have  done  drink- 
ing." And  she  emptied  her  pitcher  and  ran  again  unto 
the  well  to  draw,  and  drew  for  all  his  camels. 


86  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

All  this  time  the  man  was  looking  steadfastly  upon 
her,  not  saying  anything,  but  making  up  his  mind  that 
this  was  the  girl  whom  he  would  choose  as  a  wife  for 
Isaac.  The  more  he  looked  upon  her,  the  more  pleased 
he  was  with  her  kindly  spirit. 

Then  it  occurred  to  him  that  he  ought  to  show  his 
respect  for  what  she  had  done;  and  so  he  took  out  a 
beautiful  gold  ring  and  some  beautiful  bracelets  made 
of  rich  gold,  of  the  kind  people  wore  in  those  days. 
And  he  said  to  her:  "Whose  daughter  art  thou?"  as 
he  gave  her  the  ring  and  bracelets.  And  he  went  on 
to  say :  "Is  there  room  in  thy  father's  house  for  us  to 
lodigte  in?"  And  she  said  to  him:  "I  am  the  daughter 
of  Bethuel  of  this  city ;  we  have  both  straw  and  prov- 
ender enough  and  room-  for  thee  to  lodge  in."  Then 
the  man  said  to  himself,  "It  has  all  come  out  right ;  I 
am  sure  I  have  found  a  wife  for  Isaac." 

In  the  meantime,  Rebekah  went  home  and  told  her 
mother  and  the  people  in  her  home  what  had  happened. 
Rebekah  had  a  brother  whose  name  was  Laban;  and 
he  ran  out  and  saw  the  man,  and  he  said  to  the  mes- 
senger from  Abraham,  not  knowing,  of  course,  who 
he  was :  "Come  thou  in ;  wherefore  standest  thou  with- 
out ?  We  have  prepared  the  house,  and  there  is  room 
for  the  camels."  And  so  Laban  showed  the  man  into 
the  house  and  ungirdled  the  camels,  giving  them  straw 
and  provender,  and  the  water  for  the  man  with  which 
to  wash  his  feet  and  the  men's  feet  that  were  with  him. 
All  was  going  well  now,  and  the  messenger  from 
Abraham  was  pleased  and  satisfied.  They  set  meat  be- 
fore him  to  eat,  in  order  to  satisfy  his  hunger. 

And  what  do  you  suppose  he  did?  Most  persons  I 
fancy  would  at  once  have  taken  the  supper  set  before 
them,  and  explained  afterwards  what  they  had  come  for. 
But  not  so  with  this  man.  He  must  first  do  what  he 
had  been  told  to  do.  And  so  he  said  to  them :  "I  will 
not  eat  until  I  have  told  my  errand."  And  they  an- 
swered :  "Speak  on."  And  then  he  said : 

"I  am  the  servant  of  Abraham.  My  master  has  been 
very  much  blest  and  he  has  become  great;  he  hath 


THE   PATRIARCHS.  87 

flocks  and  herds  and  silver  and  gold  and  men  servants 
and  maid  servants  and  camels.  And  Sarah,  my  mas- 
ter's wife,  had  a  little  child  when  she  was  old,  and  to 
this  child  my  master  will  give  all  his  riches.  Now,  my 
master  Abraham  made  me  promise,  saying,  Thou  shalt 
not  take  a  wife  for  my  son  from  the  people  in  Canaan 
where  I  dwell,  but  thou  shalt  go  unto  my  father's 
house  and  to  my  kindred  and  there  take  a  wife  for  my 
son/  And  I  said  unto  my  master,  'Peradventure  the 
woman  will  not  follow  me?'  And  Abraham  told  me 
to  go  and  try  and  find  a  wife  there  among  his  kindred ; 
and  I  have  traveled  a  long  distance  and  I  came  this  day 
unto  the  well  just  outside  the  city,  and  I  said  to  my- 
self, 'Let  it  come  to  pass  that  the  maiden  which  cometh 
forth  to  draw  water,  to  whom  I  shall  say  Give  me,  I 
pray  thee,  a  little  water  from  thy  pitcher  to  drink,  and 
she  shall  say  to  me,  'Both  drink  thou,  and  I  will  also 
draw  for  thy  camels,'  let  this  same  woman  become  the 
wife  for  Isaac/  And  before  I  had  done  speaking  in 
my  heart,  behold,  Rebekah  came  forth  with  her  pitcher 
on  her  shoulder  and  she  went  down  to  the  well  to  draw. 
And  I  said  to  her,  'Let  me  drink,  I  pray  thee/  and  she 
made  haste  and  let  down  her  pitcher  and  said,  'Drink, 
and  I  will  give  thy  camels  drink  also/'  So  I  drank, 
and  she  bade  the  camels  to  drink.  And  I  asked  her, 
'Whose  daughter  art  thou  ?'  and  she  answered  and  said, 
'I  am  the  daughter  of  Bethuel/  Then  I  gave  her  the 
ring  and  the  bracelets  and  I  bowed  my  head  and  was 
happy  to  think  perhaps  I  had  found  a  wife  for  my  mas- 
ter's son.  Now,  if  you  will  deal  kindly  with  my  mas- 
ter, tell  me  that  I  may  turn  back  with  a  wife  for  his 
son  Isaac." 

Then  they  said  to  him,  feeling  it  was  all  right: 
"Rebekah  is  before  thee :  take  her  and  go,  and  let  her 
be  thy  master's  son's  wife."  Then  the  servant  knew 
that  all  was  right ;  that  everything  was  coming  out  just 
in  the  way  it  was  desired  by  Abraham. 

And  so  he  brought  forth  the  gifts  which  he  had  car- 
ried with  him,  jewels  of  silver  and  jewels  of  gold,  and 
raiment,  and  gave  them  to  Rebekah.  He  gave  also 


85  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

to  her  brother  and  to  her  mother  precious  things.  And 
then  he  did  eat  and  drink  and  the  men  that  were  with 
him,  and  tarried  all  night.  In  the  morning  he  rose 
up  and  said,  "Send  me  away  now  unto  my  master." 
But  it  seemed  very  hard  to  the  father  and  mother  that 
they  should  part  at  once  with  their  dear  child.  They 
wanted  at  least  that  she  should  remain  with  them  a  few 
days  longer,  as  they  might  never  see  her  again,  since 
she  had  to  go  into  a  far  country,  where  they  themselves 
had  never  been.  And  so  they  said:  "Let  the  damsel 
abide  with  us  a  few  days,  at  least  ten  days ;  after  that 
she  shall  go." 

But  the  messenger  remembered  that  Abraham  was  an 
old  man ;  and  he  felt  he  ought  not  to  wait  any  longer. 
He  had  come  all  this  journey  over  the  desert  in  order 
to  get  a  wife  for  Isaac,  and  he  thought  he  ought  to 
go  back  right  away.  And  he  said,  therefore,  to  them : 
"Hinder  me  not;  send  me  away  that  I  may  go  to  my 
master."  Then  they  thought  the  right  way  would  be 
to  let  Rebekah  decide  for  herself.  So  they  turned  to 
her  and  said :  "Wilt  thou  go  with  this  man  ?" 

I  suppose  it  must  have  been  very  hard  for  her  to 
decide  so  abruptly.  There  she  was  with  her  dear 
father  and  mother  and  family.  But  she  also  thought 
of  what  the  man  had  told  her  about  old  Abraham 
sitting  there,  far  away,  waiting  patiently  for  the  return. 
And  she  said  at  last:  "I  will  go."  Then  came  the 
parting.  It  was  beautiful,  although  very  sad.  Rebekah 
belonged  to  a  large  family,  and  they  all  came  together, 
father,  mother,  brothers  and  sisters,  and  bade  her 
good-bye,  placing  her  on  one  of  the  camels  for  the  long 
distance  she  had  to  travel  over  the  desert  to  the  land 
of  Canaan.  I  fancy  at  first  she  may  have  cried  and  felt 
very  sad  at  parting  so  suddenly  from  home  and  father 
and  mother  and  all  the  rest.  But  she  was  young,  and 
she  knew  she  was  going  away  to  become  the  wife  of  a 
good  and  true  man.  And  as  she  traveled  on  and  on, 
she  kept  wondering  to  herself  what  kind  of  a  man  her 
husband  would  be. 

In  the  meanwhile  you  can  readily  fancy  that  Isaac 


THE   PATRIARCHS.  89 

must  have  been  growing  a  little  impatient  back  there 
in  Canaan,  waiting  for  the  woman  who  was  to  become 
his  wife.  Abraham,  as  an  old  man,  felt  it  would  come 
out  all  right;  and  he  said  nothing.  But  at  last  Isaac 
could  not  wait  any  longer.  He  went  out  thinking  per- 
haps he  would  meet  the  caravan  on  its  homeward  jour- 
ney. And  sure  enough,  there  in  the  distance,  when  he 
lifted  up  his  eyes,  were  the  camels  approaching.  And 
Rebekah,  looking  ahead,  saw  Isaac,  and  she  alighted 
from  off  the  camel  and  said  to  the  messenger :  "What 
man  is  this  that  cometh  to  meet  us  ?"  And  he  answered 
"It  is  Isaac,  the  son  of  my  master  Abraham — the  man 
whom  thou  art  to  marry."  At  this  she  drew  down  her 
veil  as  Isaac  approached,  and  so  at  last  the  whole  cara- 
van arrived  in  the  presence  of  Abraham. 

This  certainly  was  a  pleasant  home-coming.  Re- 
bekah became  the  wife  of  Isaac,  and  Abraham  was 
well  satisfied.  He  was  completely  happy  now,  and 
felt  that  the  time  had  come  when  he  should  be  ready 
to  die.  He  was  now  one  hundred  and  sixty-three,  and 
older  than  Sarah  had  been  at  her  death. 

At  last  the  end  came  to  the  good,  patient,  obedient 
old  Abraham.  The  aged  patriarch  who  had  lived  all 
his  years  among  strangers  in  the  land  of  Canaan  was 
now  at  rest.  And  they  laid  his  body  away  along  with 
the  body  of  his  wife  Sarah  in  the  family  tomb  in  the 
cave  of  Machpelah.  Isaac  then  became  the  head  of 
the  family  while  all  his  father's  wealth  fell  to  him.  But 
he  had  been  brought  up  well  and  was  a  brave,  strong, 
true  young  man,  and  lived  in  the  same  true,  simple 
way  as  his  father  Abraham  had  done. 

To  THE  TEACHER:  This  is  to  be  told  more  as 
an  exquisitely  beautiful  story  from  early  times.  Each 
detail  should  be  dwelt  upon.  Go  over  the  narrative 
a  number  of  times,  if  possible.  Again  bring  up  the 
loyalty  of  Abraham ;  how  he  never  forgot  the  commands 
laid  upon  him  and  how  obedient  he  was  to  the  spirit 
of  a  charge  as  well  as  to  the  letter.  Emphasize  how 
the  servant  had  quite  the  same  spirit  in  his  obedience 


90  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

to  Abraham.  Show  a  picture  of  a  caravan  and  of  "Re- 
bekah  at  the  Well."  Point  out  the  gentle  modesty  of 
Rebekah  and  her  sweet  spirit  of  helpfulness.  At  the  end 
of  the  chapter  it  might  be  well  to  go  back  and  have  a 
review  of  the  stories  about  Abraham.  Too  much  cannot 
be  made  of  the  beautiful  character  of  this  man  as  a 
union  of  gentleness  with  greatness. 

MEMORY  VERSE  :  /  will  not  eat  until  I  have  told  my 
errand.  Hinder  me  not;  send  me  away  that  I  may  go. 
to  my  Master. 


CHAPTER  XL 
Jacob  and  Esau. 

We  have  been  narrating  some  beautiful  stories  about 
Abraham  and  his  family  there  in  Canaan.  But  now  I 
must  come  to  something  else  in  my  tales,  which  is  very 
sad.  I  wish  it  were  possible  for  me  not  to  say  anything 
about  it.  I  wish  it  had  never  happened  at  all.  It  ought 
not  to  have  happened,  because  it  was  something  very 
bad  indeed.  But,  as  you  know,  people  in  the  world  are 
not  all  good;  and  then  too,  some  people  are  not  very 
good  and  not  very  bad.  Now  and  then  it  happens  that 
people  who  are  not  very  bad  in  their  characters,  may 
do  really  bad  things  which  they  have  to  regret  all  their 
lives. 

I  have  to  tell  you  the  story  of  two  brothers,  and 
at  once  it  will  make  you  think  about  the  story  of  those 
two  brothers,  Cain  and  Abel.  But  this  is  not  about  a 
murder,  although  it  is  something  almost  as  bad.  One 
of  these  brothers  for  some  reason  did  not  always  speak 
the  truth;  at  times  he  would  acually  tell  lies;  and  I 
think  you  will  feel  after  you  have  heard  it  all,  that 
this  brother  was  almost  as  bad  as  Cain.  But  you  must 
know  about  this,  because  it  is  a  part  of  our  story  and 
there  is  no  way  to  avoid  it.  You  must  know  something 
about  the  evil  which  has  taken  place  in  the  world,  as 
well  as  about  the  good  which  is  there. 

My  story  is  about  two  children  of  Isaac  and  Rebekah. 
It  seems  that  their  first  boys  were  twins;  and  they 
called  one  Esau  and  the  other  Jacob.  These  boys 
were  not  at  all  alike  in  their  ways  or  their  characters. 
As  they  grew  up  Esau  became  fond  of  hunting,  and  as 
this  was  one  way  of  making  a  living  in  those  days, 
Esau  became  a  hunter.  But  Jacob,  on  the  other  hand, 

91 


92  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

liked  the  work  which  had  been  followed  by  his  father 
Isaac  and  his  grandfather  Abraham.  He  lived  in  tents 
and  kept  flocks  and  herds. 

Now,  although  these  two  boys  had  been  "twins,"  as 
we  say,  yet  Esau  had  been  born  just  a  little  before 
Jacob  and  was  therefore  called  the  elder  son.  And  it 
was  customary  in  those  days  that  the  eldest  son  should 
receive  what  was  known  as  the  "birthright."  This 
meant  that  he  should  have  most  of  the  wealth  owned 
by  his  father  after  his  father's  death;  not  only  that, 
but  that  he  should  be  the  head  of  the  whole  family  or 
tribe.  And  as  Esau  was  the  eldest  of  the  two  brothers, 
it  was  established  that  he  should  receive  the  birth- 
right later  on  and  become  the  head  of  the  family.  And 
Isaac,  the  father,  had  thought  of  it  in  this  way  all 
along. 

But  the  boy  Jacob  was  not  pleased  that  his  brother 
Esau  should  receive  the  birthright.  He  kept  thinking 
that  he  wanted  it  for  himself,  and  that  he  would  like 
to  become  the  head  of  the  family  after  his  father's 
death.  This  was  not  right,  because  the  law  of  the  land 
had  fixed  it  otherwise;  and  he  should  have  been  con- 
tent and  made  the  best  of  it.  I  am  quite  sure  that  his 
father  Isaac  would  not  have  left  him  without  anything 
at  all.  What  Jacob  really  wanted,  I  suppose,  was  the 
honor  of  being  the  head  of  the  family.  And  the  more 
he  thought  of  it,  the  more  he  made  up  his  mind  that 
in  some  way  or  other  he  would  try  to  get  that  birth- 
right even  if  he  had  to  steal  it  from  his  brother. 

As  we  have  said,  if  he  were  to  do  this,  he  would  have 
to  be  deceitful  and  tell  lies.  But  it  may  be  that  he 
thought  that  inasmuch  as  he  was  twin  brother  with 
Esau,  he  had  about  as  much  right  to  the  honor  as 
Esau  himself.  And  when  people  want  anything  very 
much,  sometimes  they  do  not  stop  to  think  of  the  bad 
conduct  they  may  have  to*  be  guilty  of,  in  order  to  get 
what  they  are  after.  I  do  not  really  suppose  that  Jacob 
at  the  start  intended  exactly  to  cheat  or  lie  or  to  steal ; 
but  he  just  wanted  that  birthright.  What  is  more,  he 
felt  somehow  that  his  brother  Esau,  as  a  hunter,  was 
not  quite  the  right  sort  of  a  man  to  become  the  head  of 


THE   PATRIARCHS.  93 

a  family.  Then,  too,  perhaps  Esau  himself  would  not 
care  about  it. 

In  the  first  place,  Jacob  would  have  to  get  Esau  to 
promise  to  give  up  his  birthright.  Unless  this  was  done 
there  would  be  no  hope  for  him.  And  now  what  do 
you  suppose  Jacob  did?  It  was  something  awfully 
mean.  One  day,  Esau,  who  had  been  hunting,  came 
in  very  hungry  indeed.  He  had  not  eaten  anything  for 
a  long  while,  and  was  so  weak  and  faint  that  he  could 
scarcely  stand.  He  thought  he  was  about  to  die  for 
lack  of  food.  And  there  close  by  him  stood  Jacob  with 
some  red  pottage  in  his  hand,  the  kind  of  food  which 
they  had  there  in  those  days.  Esau,  almost  at  the  point 
of  death,  faint  and  weak  from  hunger,  scarcely  able 
to  stand,  raised  himself  up  and  turned  to  Jacob,  and 
said  with  a  weak  voice :  "Feed  me,  I  pray  thee,  with 
that  same  red  pottage,  for  I  am  faint."  Jacob  saw  that 
he  had  his  chance.  I  hate  to  tell  you  what  he  did,  it 
was  so  mean  and  selfish  and  wicked. 

There  was  his  brother  almost  dying  of  hunger ;  and 
this  is  what  he  said  to  Esau:  "Sell  me  first,  thy 
birthright/'  Esau  could  do  nothing.  He  thought  to 
himself,  I  shall  die  of  hunger  unless  I  give  in  to  what 
Jacob  asks  of  me.  And  so  in  order  to  get  food  and  save 
himself  from  dying  of  hunger,  he  promised  his  birth- 
right to  Jacob.  This  is  why  we  often  hear  nowadays 
about  "selling  one's  birthright  for  a  mess  of  pottage." 

Yet  while  this  had  taken  place  between  Jacob  and 
Esau,  the  father  Isaac  knew  nothing  about  it.  Probably 
Esau  had  not  told  his  father,  and  I  am  sure  Jacob  had 
begun  to  feel  ashamed  of  it  and  did  not  say  anything 
about  it  himself.  But  the  time  had  come  when  Isaac 
was  an  old  man  and  just  about  to  die ;  and  he  had  to 
give  his  "Blessing,"  as  it  is  called,  to  his  elder  son  Esau, 
handing  over  to  him  the  family  wealth  and  making  him 
the  head  of  the  family. 

The  custom  was  at  such  a  time  that  the  eldest  son 
should  kneel  before  his  father,  while  the  father  would 
lay  his  hands  on  the  son's  head  and  speak  the  blessing, 
and  then  give  him  all  the  wealth  and  make  him  the 


94  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

head  of  the  family.  It  seems  that  Esau  and  Jacob  had 
been  born  when  Isaac  was  quite  an  old  man,  so  that 
by  the  time  they  grew  up,  the  father  was  about  to  die. 

Now  came  the  moment  when  Jacob  would  have  to 
make  up  his  mind  whether  he  would  try  to  carry  out 
his  plan  of  getting  the  birthright  and  blessing  away 
from  Esau.  He  had  not  talked  about  it  any  more  since 
he  had  stolen  the  promise  from  his  brother  in  that  cruel 
way.  It  may  be  that  he  wished  he  had  never  done  this  ; 
yet  he  had  not  lost  his  desire  for  that  birthright.  He 
went  on  thinking  about  it  just  the  same.  And  what 
makes  it  all  the  more  sad  is  that  his  mother  cared  more 
for  him  than  she  did  for  his  brother.  This  had  been 
very  wrong  in  Rebekah,  and  we  cannot  help  blaming 
her  for  it.  While  she  possessed  a  kindly  spirit,  as  was 
shown  by  her  treatment  of  the  messenger  at  the  well 
in  the  land  of  the  Chaldees ;  and  while  she  had  been  a 
true  and  loving  wife  to  Isaac ;  yet  this  favoritism  was 
not  just  the  right  thing.  She  wanted  to  get  the  birth- 
right for  Jacob,  as  much  as  he  wanted  it  himself.  She 
did  not  want  it  to  go  to  Esau. 

In  the  meantime,  Isaac,  the  old  father,  who  was  now 
almost  if  not  quite  blind,  called  Esau,  his  elder  son,  and 
said  unto  him,  "Son/'  and  he  answered,  "Here  am  I." 
And  Isaac  said  :  "Behold  I  am  old  and  shall  soon  die ; 
now  therefore,  take,  I  pray  thee,  thy  weapons,  thy 
quiver  and  thy  bow,  and  go  to  the  field  and  take  me 
some  venison ;  and  make  me  savory  meat  such  as  I  like 
and  bring  it  to  me  that  I  may  eat ;  that  I  may  give  thee 
my  blessing  before  I  die." 

And  Rebekah  heard  when  Isaac  spoke  in  this  way 
to  his  son  Esau,  and  at  once  began  to  think  how  she 
should  act  in  order  to  get  the  birthright  and  blessing 
for  her  other  boy  Jacob.  This  is  not  a  pleasant  story, 
and  I  am  glad  we  shall  be  through  with  it  soon.  But 
we  must  go  on. 

Rebekah  made  up  her  mind  that  she  would  deceive 
her  husband  Isaac.  And  so  she  said  to  Jacob,  "Behold 
I  hear  thy  father  speaking  unto  Esau  thy  brother, 
saying  'bring  me  venison  and  make  me  savory  meat 
that  I  may  eat  and  give  thee  my  blessing/  Now,  there- 


THE   PATRIARCHS.  95 

fore,  my  son,  obey  my  voice  and  do  what  I  tell  thee.  Go 
thou  to  the  flock  and  fetch  me  thence  two  kids  and  1 
will  make  savory  meat  for  thy  father  such  as  he  likes, 
and  thou  shalt  take  it  to  thy  father  that  he  may  eat, 
so  that  he  may  give  thee  his  blessing  instead  of  giving 
it  to  Esau." 

It  is  very  sad  to  think  that  the  mother  of  Jacob 
should  have  asked  her  son — her  boy — to  go  through 
this  lie  in  order  to  cheat  and  deceive  her  aged  husband. 
It  may  be  easier  for  us  to  forgive  Jacob,  because  it  was 
urged  upon  him ;  yet  we  cannot  help  thinking  he  ought 
to  have  refused  at  once.  A  father  is  a  father,  and  a 
lie  is  a  lie. 

But  now  that  Jacob  knew  how  his  mother  wanted 
that  he  should  have  the  blessing  and  become  the  head 
of  the  family  instead  of  Esau,  he  had  not  the  strength 
to  say  No.  He  had  thought  about  this  all  along,  and 
the  temptation  was  very  great.  Then  too,  he  had  made 
the  beginning  in  the  way  he  had  stolen  the  promise  from 
Esau  a  long  while  before.  And  he  said  to  His  mother : 
"My  father  will  feel  me;  behold,  my  brother  is  a  hairy 
man  and  I  am  a  smooth  man ;  I  shall  seem  to  my  father 
as  a  deceiver  and  he  will  curse  me  rather  than  give 
me  his  blessing."  Then  the  mother  said  to  him: 
"Upon  me  be  the  curse,  my  son ;  do  thou  obey  my  voice 
and  go  and  fetch  the  kids/'  And  he  went  and  brought 
the  kids  and  gave  them  to  his  mother  and  she  made 
savory  meat  such  as  his  father  liked.  Then  Rebekah 
took  the  raiment  of  Esau  which  was  with  her  in  the 
house  and  put  it  upon  Jacob,  and  she  put  the  skins  of 
goats  upon  his  hands  and  upon  the  smooth  of  his  neck, 
and  she  gave  the  savory  meat  and  the  bread  which  she 
had  prepared,  into  the  hand  of  her  son  Jacob. 

Then  he  came  unto  his  father  and  said,  "My  father," 
and  the  father  said,  "Here  am  I ;  who  art  thou  ?"  and 
Jacob  answered — Just  think  of  this !  I  wish  we  did  not 
have  to  tell  you  the  words;  but  we  must — "I  am  Esau 
thy  first  born.  I  have  done  according  as  thou  badest 
me.  Arise,  I  pray  thee ;  sit  and  eat  of  my  venison  and 
then  give  me  thy  blessing." 

Isaac  for  a  moment  suspected  something.    I  am  not 


96  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

sure  but  that  he  knew  of  the  character  of  Jacob;  be- 
cause a  boy  could  not  have  acted  this  way  towards  his 
brother  and  not  have  in  some  way  done  other  mean 
acts.  It  is  hard  to  think  that  a  father  should  be  obliged 
to  feel  this  way  about  his  boy;  but  it  could  not  be 
helped.  There  was  that  awful  deed  which  Isaac  knew 
nothing  about,  when  Jacob  had  stolen  that  promise 
about  the  birthright.  And  since  that  time,  Jacob  had 
never  been  the  good,  honest  boy  he  had  been  before; 
there  was  something  about  him  different  in  his  voice. 
And  the  old  father  before  becoming  blind,  had  some- 
how seen  this  in  his  boy  and  had  been  troubled  about  it. 

He  was  now  going  to  make  very  sure  that  the  son 
before  him  was  Esau,  and  so  he  said :  "Come  near,  I 
pray  thee,  that  I  may  feel  thee,  my  son ;  whether  thou 
be  my  very  son  Esau  or  not."  And  Jacob  went  near 
unto  Isaac  his  father;  and  the  father  felt  his  hands 
and  his  neck  and  said,  "The  voice  is  Jacob's  voice  but 
the  hands  are  the  hands  of  Esau."  You  see,  he  could 
not  tell,  because  of  the  way  Rebekah  had  put  the  cloth- 
ing and  skins  upon  Jacob. 

I  cannot  help  wondering  why  Jacob  did  not  tremble 
or  let  the  venison  fall,  when  saying  those  words  to 
his  old,  blind  father.  But  Isaac  asked  him  again,  "Art 
thou  my  very  son,  Esau?"  and  Jacob  said  "I  am." 
And  then  the  old  father  said :  "Bring  near  to  me  the 
venison  that  I  may  eat  of  it."  And  Jacob  brought  it 
to  him  and  Isaac  did  eat.  Then  Jacob  knelt  down 
before  the  old  man,  and  the  father  raised  his  hands  to 
lay  them  upon  the  head  of  Jacob  and  give  him  the 
blessing,  making  him  the  head  of  the  family  and  giving 
to  him  all  his  wealth,  saying:  "Let  people  serve  thee 
and  nations  bow  down  to  thee ;  be  ruler  over  thy  breth- 
ren and  let  thy  mother's  sons  bow  down  to  thee.  Cursed 
be  every  one  that  curseth  thee,  and  blessed  be  every 
one  that  blesseth  thee." 

It  is  certain  by  this  time  Jacob  must  have  been 
trembling  all  over  at  the  thought  of  the  awful  lie  he 
was  guilty  of.  But  Isaac  would  not  have  understood 
what  the  trembling  meant.  At  last  the  blessing  was 
over  and  Jacob  went  away.  At  the  very  moment  when 


THE   PATRIARCHS.  97 

Jacob  passed  out,  Esau  came  in  with  his  venison, 
bringing  it  unto  his  father.  And  he  said  to  Isaac,  his 
old  father:  "Let  my  father  rise  and  eat  of  his  son's 
venison  and  give  him  the  blessing." 

Isaac  must  have  been  quite  overcome  when 
he  heard  this,  as  he  gasped  out:  "Who  art  thou?" 
And  Esau  answered  him,  "Thy  son,  thy  first-born, 
Esau."  And  Isaac  answered,  "Who  then,  is  he  who 
hath  taken  venison  and  brought  it  to  me  and  I  have 
eaten  of  it  before  thou  earnest  and  have  given  him  the 
blessing?" 

Then  Esau  understood.  It  must  be  he  had  forgotten 
how,  years  before,  when  very  hungry  and  at  the  point 
of  death,  he  had  promised  his  birthright  to  Jacob  for 
some  food.  But  it  all  came  back  to  him  now  when 
he  had  lost  that  birthright  and  was  no  longer  to  be  the 
head  of  the  family.  And  he  cried  out  with  an  exceed- 
ing great  and  bitter  cry,  saying  unto  his  father,  "Bless 
me,  even  me,  also,  O  my  father." 

It  was  too  late.  The  blessing  had  been  given;  the 
words  had  been  spoken.  According  to  the  law  of  that 
country  when  the  words  had  been  said,  they  could  not 
be  taken  back.  And  so  the  father  could  only  answer: 
"Thy  brother  came  with  venison  and  hath  taken  away 
thy  blessing."  But  still  Esau  kept  pleading  with  his 
father,  asking  if  he  had  not  also  a  blessing  for  him, 
and  Isaac  could  only  answer :  "Alas,  I  have  made  him 
thy  ruler,  and  all  his  brethren  have  I  given  to  him  for 
servants;  what  then  shall  I  do  for  thee,  my  son?" 
But  Esau  kept  saying  to  his  father,  "Hast  thou  not  one 
blessing  for  me,  my  father?  Bless  me,  even  me, 
also,  O  my  father !"  and  Esau  lifted  up  his  voice  and 
wept  and  the  poor  old  father  wept  with  him. 

But  there  was  nothing  to  be  done.  The  blessing  had 
been  given.  Jacob  was  to  become  the  head  of  the 
family. 

To  THE  TEACHER:  In  the  analysis  of  the 
character  of  Jacob,  dwell  upon  him  all  along  as  a 
weak  man  rather  than  one  thoroughly  bad.  Show  how 
such  a  person  tends  to  become  underhanded  or 


98  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

"tricky"  by  his  very  nature.  Point  out  a  certain  want 
of  manliness  about  Jacob.  Emphasize  the  positive 
awfulness  of  deceiving  one's  father — as  if  it  were 
almost  like  parent-murder — and  most  of  all,  an  aged 
blind  father.  On  the  other  hand,  be  very  careful  in 
the  way  you  speak  of  the  sin  of  Rebekah.  It  should 
be  regarded  more  as  giving  way  to  a  weakness.  We 
must  be  careful  about  encouraging  children  to  pass 
judgment  upon  mothers.  Suitable  pictures  will  not 
easily  be  found  for  this  lesson.  Poor  ones  would  be 
worse  than  none  at  all. 

MEMORY  VERSE:  Hast  thou  not  one  blessing  for 
me,  my  father?  Bless  me,  even  me,  also,  O  my 
father. 


CHAPTER  XII. 
Jacob  in  a  Distant  Land. 

By  this  time  it  was  known  what  Jacob  had  done.  It 
may  be  that  he  was  already  sorry  for  it.  In  fact,  I 
feel  quite  sure  of  this,  because  from  all  we  know  about 
him  he  had  not  been  really  a  bad  boy  nor  a  bad  man. 
He  had  given  in  to  an  awful  temptation  by  permitting 
himself  to  think  about  something  which  he  had  no 
right  to  think  of  at  all. 

But  now  there  was  no  help  for  it.  Even  if  he  had 
been  sorry  and  desired  so  much  to  give  back  the 
birthright,  according  to  the  law  of  the  land  he  could 
not  do  it.  The  words  had  been  spoken;  he  had  re- 
ceived the  blessing,  and  so  had  to  become  the  head 
of  the  family. 

At  the  same  time,  his  mother  Rebekah  knew  quite 
well  that  Esau  would  be  very  angry,  and  she  was 
afraid  that  in  his  anger  he  would  make  bold  to  kill 
Jacob.  I  hate  to  tell  you  all  this  about  Rebekah,  be- 
cause in  other  ways  she  had  been  a  good  wife  to  Isaac. 
She  had  made  the  sad  mistake  of  showing  favor  to 
one  of  her  two  sons.  Now,  therefore,  she  was  going 
to  be  punished,  because  she  would  have  to  part  with 
Jacob  after  all.  She  could  not  have  him  with  her  any 
longer.  She  would  have  to  send  her  son  away,  and 
be  left  there  with  the  old,  blind  father,  Isaac,  knowing 
that  he  no  longer  could  trust  her,  and  feeling  how 
unhappy  he  must  be  for  all  the  rest  of  his  days. 

So  Rebekah,  thinking  about  the  safety  of  her  son 
Jacob,  called  him  to  her  and  said:  "Behold,  thy 
brother  Esau  may  try  to  kill  thee;  now  therefore  my 
son,  obey  my  voice ;  arise,  flee  thou  to  Laban  my  broth- 
er, back  to  my  former  home  in  the  land  of  the  Chal- 

99 


IOO  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

dees.  When  Esau  has  forgotten  what  thou  hast  done  to 
him,  or  his  anger  has  passed  away,  then  I  will  send 
word  and  fetch  thee  back  again." 

Jacob,  now  a  full  grown  man,  left  his  father  and 
mother,  to  go  far  away  from  his  home  into  another 
country,  feeling  somehow  that  even  while  he  had  re- 
ceived the  blessing  of  his  father  Isaac,  yet  in  another 
way,  a  curse  must  follow  him. 

I  doubt  very  much  if  he  was  happy ;  and  we  should 
feel  pretty  sure  that  troubles  would  come  to  him  some 
time.  It  is  quite  true  that  all  people  have  trouble; 
yet  those  who  do  right  may  be  happy  in  spite  of 
misfortunes  coming  to  them.  But  we  can  be  sure 
that  when  troubles  came  to  Jacob,  they  would  be 
troubles  indeed.  He  would  never  be  able  to  get  over 
the  thought  of  the  wrong  he  had  done  to  his  brother 
Esau.  I  am  certain  that  the  memory  of  it  all  would 
stay  with  him  to  the  end  of  his  days;  so  that  when- 
ever anything  happened  to  him  or  any  trouble  came, 
he  would  at  once  think  it  was  a  punishment  for  the 
way  in  which  he  had  stolen  that  birthright  from  his 
brother,  and  for  the  way  he  had  deceived  his  old 
father  in  telling  that  lie  when  getting  the  blessing. 

But  he  came  at  last  to  the  far  away  country  to  which 
he  had  been  sent,  and  found  his  uncle  Laban,  who, 
you  will  remember,  had  come  out  years  before  to  the 
well  to  meet  the  messenger  of  Abraham,  going  there 
to  get  a  wife  for  Isaac. 

This  is  the  way  the  story  is  told  to  us :  Jacob  went 
on  his  journey  and  came  to  the  land  of  the  children 
of  the  east.  And  he  looked,  and  behold  a  well  in  the 
field,  and  lo,  there  were  three  flocks  of  sheep  lying 
there  by  it,  for  out  of  that  well  they  watered  their 
flocks;  and  a  great  stone  was  upon  the  well's  mouth. 
And  thither  were  all  the  flocks  gathered. 

And  Jacob  said  unto  them:  "My  brethren,  whence 
are  ye?  Know  ye  Laban,  the  son  of  Nahor?"  And 
they  said,  "We  know  him."  And  he  said  unto  them, 
"Is  it  well  with  him?"  And  they  said,  "It  is  well,  and 
behold,  Rachel  his  daughter  cometh  with  the  sheep." 


THE   PATRIARCHS.  BOI 

And  Jacob  said,  "Lo,  it  is  yet  high  day;  neither  is  it 
time  for  the  cattle  to  be  gathered  together;  water  ye 
the  sheep  and  go  and  feed  them/'  And  they  said,  "We 
cannot,  till  all  the  flocks  be  gathered  together,  and 
the  stone  be  rolled  from  the  well's  mouth;  then  we 
water  the  sheep." 

You  can  be  sure  that  Jacob  was  glad  at  last  to  come 
to  the  home  of  his  uncle  Laban,  although  it  may  be 
that  he  was  not  quite  sure  how  Laban  would  receive 
him.  When  a  man  has  done  anything  wicked,  he 
somehow  feels  as  if  everybody  will  know  about  it  and 
will  dislike  him  for  it;  although  there  had  not  been 
time  for  rumor  of  the  conduct  of  Jacob  to  have  reached 
this  far  country,  so  that  Laban  might  know  of  it.  Yet 
Jacob  could  not  be  quite  sure  of  this,  for  he  felt  very 
mean  and  ashamed  because  of  the  way  he  had  treated 
his  old  father  and  stolen  the  birthright  from  Esau. 

He  did  not  go  at  once,  therefore,  to  meet  Laban, 
but  waited  to  see  what  would  happen,  and  staid  there 
with  the  flocks,  talking  with  the  men.  And  while  he 
was  speaking  with  them,  Rachel,  the  daughter  of 
Laban,  came  with  her  father's  sheep. 

You  know  in  those  days  the  daughters  worked  like 
the  sons,  in  the  field,  helping  to  tend  sheep  along  with 
their  brothers  or  their  father.  One  hears  of  shepherds 
and  also  of  shepherdesses ;  and  Rachel  was  a  shepherd- 
ess, keeping  her  father's  sheep. 

As  Rachel  drew  near  with  her  flock,  Jacob  stepped 
forward  in  a  manly  way  and  rolled  the  stone  from  the 
well's  mouth  and  watered  the  flock  for  her.  Then  he 
told  her  who  he  was,  trembling  lest  perhaps  she  should 
know  what  he  had  done.  But  he  was  glad  at  heart 
when  she  received  him  kindly  and  rushed  away  at 
once  to  tell  her  father  about  it  all,  how  the  son  of 
his  sister  Rebekah  had  traveled  a  long  distance  and 
come  back  to  their  home.  Laban  at  once  came  out 
and  greeted  Jacob,  thinking  of  the  time  a  long  while 
ago  when  he  had  parted  with  his  dear  sister. 

And  so  he  met  the  young  man  and  embraced  him  and 
brought  him  to  his  house.  And  Jacob  asked  him  that 
he  might  stay  there  for  awhile  and  live  with  Laban, 


IO2  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

working  for  him  and  helping  him  to  take  care  of  the 
flocks  and  herds  as  if  it  were  his  own  home. 

We  do  not  suppose  he  had  at  first  intended  to  stay 
there  a  very  long  while.  But  he  was  glad  enough 
for  the  kind  welcome  which  had  been  given  to  him; 
and  I  think  he  was  also  more  than  glad  to  be  away 
from  anything  which  would  keep  making  him  think  of 
the  way  he  had  cheated  his  brother  and  his  old  father. 

Laban  was  quite  willing  to  have  him  stay  there  as 
a  member  of  the  family,  but  he  said  to  him  kindly: 
"Because  thou  art  a  relative,  my  nephew,  is  no  reason 
why  thou  shouldst  work  for  me  for  nothing.  Tell  me 
what  shall  be  thy  wages  ?"  Then  Jacob  began  to  think. 
He  did  not  at  first  want  to  serve  for  money.  When 
he  had  come  to  that  well  and  rolled  away  the  stone 
and  helped  Rachel  to  water  her  flock,  he  had  been 
pleased  with  this  young  woman  and  thought  how  glad 
he  would  be  to  have  her  sometime  for  his  wife.  And 
now  that  he  was  in  the  home  and  saw  more  of  Rachel, 
that  thought  came  over  him  very  often. 

And  so  in  reply  to  Laban's  question,  he  said:  "I 
will  serve  thee  seven  years  for  Rachel,  thy  younger 
daughter."  This  seemed  to  please  Laban  and  he 
answered:  "It  is  better  that  I  give  her  to  thee  than 
that  I  should  give  her  to  another  man.  Abide  with 
me." 

In  those  days  it  was  the  custom  sometimes  for 
people  of  the  same  kindred  to  marry  each  other,  al- 
though it  might  strike  us  as  a  little  strange  nowadays, 
this  marriage  between  Jacob  and  Rachel. 

But  when  the  seven  years  had  come  to  an  end,  the 
first  really  great  blow  fell  upon  Jacob.  Up  to  that  time 
he  had  always  had  his  own  way.  He  had  managed  to 
carry  out  his  scheme  and  get  the  birthright  and  the 
blessing ;  and  it  may  be  that  he  fancied  it  would  always 
be  that  way  and  that  everything  would  go  on  prosper- 
ously for  him  all  his  life.  But  it  worked  just  the 
other  way.  The  first  trouble  had  come. 

When  the  seven  years  were  up,  Jacob  turned  to  his 
uncle  Laban  and  said:  "My  time  is  fulfilled:  give 
me  Rachel  for  my  wife  and  let  me  go."  Then  Laban 


THE   PATRIARCHS.  IO3 

gathered  together  all  the  men  of  the  place  and  they 
had  a  great  feast.  But  when  the  time  came  for  the 
wedding,  instead  of  giving  him  Rachel,  he  gave  him 
the  other  daughter,  Leah,  for  his  wife. 

Just  think  how  Jacob  must  have  felt!  There  he 
had  gone  on,  working  year  after  year,  hoping  and 
looking  forward  to  the  time  when  he  could  have  this 
beautiful  young  Rachel  for  his  wife  and  then  return 
to  his  native  land.  Now  he  saw  that  she  was  not  to 
be  his  wife  after  all.  I  fancy  then  for  the  first  time, 
it  must  have  come  over  him  what  troubles  he  would 
have  all  the  rest  of  his  days,  and  I  am  sure  he  said 
to  himself,  "This  is  the  beginning  of  my  punishment." 
And  so  Jacob  turned  to  Laban  after  the  feast,  when 
Leah  had  been  given  to  him  for  his  wife,  and  said: 
"What  is  this  that  thou  hast  done  unto  me?  Did  I 
not  serve  thee  for  thy  daughter  Rachel?  Why  then 
hast  thou  deceived  me?"  And  Laban  answered,  "It 
is  not  done  this  way  here,  to  give  the  younger  before 
the  other  child.  Go  on  in  your  services  and  I  will  give 
thee  the  other  also,  Rachel,  for  the  service  which  thou 
wilt  serve  with  me  yet  another  seven  years." 

They  still  had  the  custom  I  have  told  you  about, 
where  the  man  could  have  more  than  one  wife;  and 
so  in  those  days  it  seemed  all  right  that  Jacob  should 
first  marry  Leah,  and  then  serve  another  seven  years 
that  he  might  have  Rachel.  He  had  been  very  fond 
indeed  of  the  beautiful  young  girl  who  had  met  him  at 
the  well.  Seven  years  seemed  a  long  time;  but  he 
thought  of  the  happiness  in  store,  and  if  by  this  means 
he  could  have  Rachel  in  return  for  his  labor,  he  would 
be  willing  to  serve  even  yet  another  seven  years.  Then 
too,  it  may  have  crosesd  his  mind  that  if  he  could 
wait  fourteen  years  there  would  be  less  danger  when 
he  returned  home,  from  the  anger  of  his  brother 
Esau. 

And  Jacob  served  another  seven  years,  and  hence 
won  Rachel  for  his  wife.  I  suspect  he  began  to  know 
what  it  meant  for  people  to  deceive  him,  just  as  he 
had  deceived  his  old  father.  How  long  after  this 
Jacob  may  have  staid  with  Laban  in  the  land  of  the 


IO4  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

Chaldees  I  do  not  know;  but  it  was  quite  a  number 
of  years,  until  he  had  a  large  family — some  eleven 
sons  altogether.  At  last  he  made  up  his  mind  to  leave 
Laban  and  return  to  his  native  home. 

Then  he  gathered  his  children  together  and  all 
his  flocks  and  herds — for  he  too,  had  now  become  a 
rich  man — and  he  felt  he  must  go  back  to  become  the 
head  of  the  family  in  Canaan.  It  was  his  duty  to  do 
this  now,  whether  he  cared  for  it  or  not,  inasmuch  as 
he  had  received  the  blessing,  and  the  law  of  the  land 
made  it  so  that  he  could  not  give  it  away  even  if  he 
wanted  to. 

Just  after  the  birth  of  his  youngest  boy,  Joseph, 
Jacob  said  unto  Laban,  "Send  me  away  that  I  may 
go  unto  mine  own  place,  into  mine  own  country.  Give 
me  my  wives  and  my  children,  for  whom  I  have 
served  thee,  and  let  me  go,  for  thou  knowest  my 
service  wherewith  I  have  served  thee/'  Then  Laban 
askd  him  what  wages  he  desired  besides  his  daughters 
which  he  had  given  to  Jacob.  And  Jacob  made  this 
reply:  "I  will  pass  through  all  thy  flocks  today,  re- 
moving from  thence  every .  speckled  and  spotted  one, 
and  every  black  one  among  the  sheep,  and  the  spotted 
and  speckled  among  the  goats,  and  of  such  shall  be 
my  hire."  And  Laban  said,  "Behold,  be  it  according  to 
thy  word."  And  then  Jacob  departed  with  Leah  and 
Rachel  and  his  sons  with  all  their  flocks  and  herds, 
and  came  back  to  the  land  of  Canaan. 

But  there  was  one  thing  that  troubled  Jacob  very 
much.  He  knew  that  Esau  was  there,  that  he  would 
have  to  meet  him ;  and  he  was  not  quite  sure,  even  if 
he  should  ask  forgiveness,  just  how  he  would  be 
received.  By  this  time  of  course,  he  had  no  need  of 
the  wealth  of  his  father,  because  he  had  much  property 
of  his  own.  But  there  was  no  way  of  getting  out  of  it. 
He  had  deceived  his  old  father  and  stolen  the  birth- 
right from  his  brother. 

All  this  must  have  spoiled  the  pleasure  of  this 
home-coming,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  he  now  had  all 
the  wealth  he  wanted,  and  his  wives  and  children  with 
him.  He  could  not  be  happy,  for  he  kept  thinking, 


THE   PATRIARCHS.  IO5 

"What  will  Esau  say?  How  will  he  act?  Will  Esau 
forgive  me  ?"  At  last  he  could  think  of  no  other  way 
than  to  send  messengers  on  ahead  to  Esau,  announcing 
his  coming,  bidding  them  to  say  to  Esau:  "Thus 
saith  thy  servant,  Jacob :  I  have  sojourned  with  Laban 
and  staid  until  now,  and  I  have  oxen  and  asses  and 
flocks,  and  men  servants  and  maid  servants,  and  I 
have  sent  to  tell  my  lord  that  I  may  find  grace  in  thy 
sight."  And  the  messengers  went  on  and  found  Esau 
and  told  him  of  the  coming  of  Jacob,  and  returned 
again,  saying:  "We  came  to  thy  brother  Esau,  and 
now  he  cometh  to  meet  thee  with  four  hundred  men 
with  him." 

You  can  fancy  what  a  state  of  mind  Jacob  must 
have  been  in.  The  messengers  could  not  say  in  what 
sort  of  a  mood  Esau  was.  They  could  not  tell  him 
whether  Esau  was  going  to  be  kind  and  forgiving, 
or  whether  he  was  coming  with  all  these  men  to 
attack  Jacob  and  kill  him.  And  we  are  sure  that 
Jacob  feared  the  worst,  because  his  conscience 
troubled  him  very  much. 

But  there  was  nothing  for  him  to  do  but  to  go  on 
with  his  family  and  his  flocks  and  herds,  until  he 
should  come  up  with  Esau  and  they  should  meet  as 
brothers. 

The  first  thing  he  did  was  to  pick  out  a  large  number 
of  sheep  and  cattle  from  the  flocks  and  herds,  along 
with  other  wealth,  and  to  send  this  on  as  a  present  to 
Esau,  saying  to  the  messengers:  "When  Esau,  my 
brother,  meeteth  thee  and  asketh  thee,  Who  art  thou, 
and  Whither  goest  thou?  and  Whose  are  these  also? 
Then  thou  shalt  say,  They  be  thy  servant  Jacob's;  it 
is  a  present  sent  unto  my  lord  Esau."  And  so  Jacob 
thought  to  himself;  I  will  do  my  best  to  please  him 
with  the  presents  I  will  send  on ;  and  when  I  come  to 
see  his  face,  it  may  be  that  he  will  receive  me  and  that 
we  will  again  become  brothers. 

At  this  time,  it  seems,  Jacob's  name  was  changed. 
It  may  be  because  he  had  really  changed  in  character. 
His  conscience  had  troubled  him  a  great  deal,  I  sup- 
pose, and  he  had  made  up  his  mind  that  for  the  rest 


106  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

of  his  days  he  would  try  to  be  a  good  and  true  man. 
The  Ruler  of  the  World,  who  had  known  what  was 
going  on  all  the  while,  must  have  felt  sorry  indeed 
about  him,  and  was  glad  now,  we  assume,  to  see  that 
a  change  had  come  in  the  character  of  Jacob.  And  so 
he  decided  to  give  him  another  name,  and  told  him 
that  hereafter  he  was  to  be  called  Israel,  and  that  his 
family  and  those  who  should  come  after  him  should 
be  called  Israelites. 

In  the  meantime,  there  was  Jacob  with  his  new 
name,  Israel,  waiting  for  the  coming  of  Esau,  and  he 
looked  up,  and  behold,  there  was  Esau  drawing  nigh, 
and  with  him  the  four  hundred  men.  Then,  leaving 
his  wife  and  children  behind  him,  Jacob  went  forward 
and  bowed  down  humbly  seven  times  before  his  broth- 
er. There  was  nothing  else  for  him  to  do.  If  his 
brother  should  come  forward  to  kill  him,  he  would  not 
resist.  He  would  wait  and  accept  whatever  happened. 

And  how  do  you  suppose  Esau  acted?  Years  had 
gone  by,  and  his  anger  had  passed  away.  He  too  had 
his  own  flocks  and  herds,  his  own  family  and  his  own 
wealth.  He  was  more  than  glad  to  meet  his  brother 
again,  and  so  Esau  ran  forward  and  threw  his  arms 
around  Jacob,  and  they  wept  together.  Then  after 
awhile,  he  raised  his  eyes  and  saw  the  women  and 
children  before  him,  and  asked :  "Who  are  these  with 
thee?"  And  Jacob  told  him  they  were  his  family. 
Then  the  children  drew  near,  and  the  wives,  Leah  and 
Rachel,  and  they  bowed  down  to  Esau,  who  at  once 
asked,  "What  does  all  this  mean — this  company  which 
has  come  out  to  me?"  And  Jacob  answered :  "To  find 
grace  in  thy  sight."  And  Esau  put  out  his  hand  and 
said :  "I  have  enough ;  my  brother,  let  that  thou  hast 
be  thine." 

This  was  a  hard  blow  to  Jacob;  very  hard  indeed. 
He  wanted  somehow  to  make  up  for  the  awful  wrong 
he  had  done  to  his  brother;  and  he  felt  it  would  be 
something  if  he  could  only  make  a  gift  of  some  kind 
to  Esau.  So  he  pleaded,  saying:  "Now  I  pray  thee, 
if  I  have  found  grace  in  thy  sight,  then  receive  my 
present  at  my  hand,  inasmuch  as  I  have  seen  thy  face, 


THE    PATRIARCHS.  IO7 

and  I  am  glad  to  meet  thee.  Take,  I  pray  thee,  my 
gift  that  is  brought  thee,  because  I  have  enough." 

Do  you  think  Esau  ought  to  have  taken  it?  He 
did  not  care  for  it.  Then  too,  if  he  did  receive  it, 
perhaps  it  would  seem  as  if,  aftef  all,  it  made  up  for 
the  loss  of  his  birthright.  I  fancy  many  a  man  would 
have  refused  it  and  said,  "This  is  too  much ;  I  cannot 
take  the  gift,  for  I  cannot  let  it  seem  as  if  I  had  never 
been  wronged  in  that  way." 

Blut  not  so  with  Esau.  He  had  forgiven  his  broth- 
er ;  and  so  he  accepted  the  gift.  Then  Esau  went  back 
to  his  own  home,  and  Jacob  arrived  with  his  flocks 
and  herds,  and  all  his  family  once  more  in  the  land  of 
Canaan,  where,  long  before,  his  father  Isaac  and  his 
mother  Rebekah  had  been  buried  in  the  family  tomb, 
the  cave  at  Machpelah. 

To  THE  TEACHER:  Carefully  point  out  a  certain 
good  side  to  Jacob  in  his  readiness  to  "serve"  for 
Rachel,  pointing  out  what  a  mixed  character  we  dis- 
cover in  him.  The  feeling  to  be  aroused  about  Jacob 
would  be  rather  one  of  pity  or  at  times  of  contempt. 
Make  the  young  people  see  that  to  be  pitied  for  weak- 
ness of  character  is  almost  as  bad  as  to  be  despised. 
Dwell  upon  the  disposition  to  deceit  in  those  days,  in 
Jacob's  experience  with  Laban,  and  how  he  got  just 
what  he  deserved.  Ask  the  question  as  to  whether 
Esau  should  have  accepted  the  gift  offered  to  him. 
Let  the  children  have  their  own  opinions  upon  it. 
Show  a  picture,  if  possible,  of  Jacob  meeting  Esau. 
Fix  definitely  in  the  memories  of  the  young  people 
the  importance  of  the  change  of  name  to  "Israel." 
These  are  incidents  of  value  in  the  knowledge  to  be 
acquired  by  the  children. 

MEMORY  VERSE:  /  have  enough,  my  brother;  let 
that  thou  hast,  be  thine. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
Joseph  and  His  Brethren. 

Our  story  now  comes  to  Jacob  and  his  family.  We 
shall  have  a  great  deal  to  say  about  his  twelve  sons. 

But  I  must  begin  by  telling  you  something  about  the 
youngest  son,  Joseph.  Hereafter,  instead  of  speaking 
of  his  father  as  Jacob  we  shall  use  the  other  name, 
Israel. 

All  along  we  have  felt  that  this  was  not  going  to  be 
a  happy  family.  It  had  not  begun  right,  because  the 
life  of  the  father  in  his  younger  days  had  started  in  the 
wrong  way. 

For  a  timje  it  seemed  as  if  all  would  go  well,  now  that 
they  were  back  in  the  Land  of  Canaan,  in  the  country 
which  had  been  promised  to  their  family  by  the  Great 
Ruler.  By  and  by,  however,  I  am  sorry  to  say  that 
trouble  arose  among  all  those  boys.  One  after  another 
they  grew  up  into  young  manhood,  and  had  their  own 
families,  taking  chargle  of  their  father's  flocks  and 
herds  and  having  the  great  wealth  which  had  come 
down  to  them  from  Abraham  and  Isaac,  as  well  as  what 
they  had  been  able  to  add,  themselves. 

It  seemed  that  Israel  became  very  fond  of  his 
favorite  boy,  Joseph.  He  made  a  pet  of  him,  as  we 
should  say,  showing  more  care  for  him  than  for  all  the 
other  sons  taken  together.  If  there  was  anything  nice 
for  any  one  of  the  children,  it  was  kept  for  Joseph.  We 
can  be  quite  sure,  therefore,  that  the  other  brothers 
would  not  be  pleased  with  this.  It  would  not  strike 
them  as  fair  that  their  father  should  pay  all  attention 

108 


TEE  PATRIARCHS.  ICX) 

to  their  youngest  brother  and  not  think  of  them.  And 
so  we  can  see  that  by  and  by  they  would  become  jeal- 
ous of  him,  then  come  to  dislike  him,  or  to  hate  him 
and  wish  to  do  him  evil;  and  this  is  the  bad  thing 
about  jealousy.  Exactly  as  we  have  said,  instead  of 
loving  Joseph  as  the  youngest  of  the  family,  they  be- 
gan to  dislike  him  and  then  to  hate  him..  And  the 
more  they  hated  him,  the  more  fond  of  him  was  the 
father  Israel ;  until  finally,  in  order  to  show  his  affec- 
tion for  the  lad,  he  made  him  a  coat  of  many  colors, 
which  of  course  put  the  boy  forward  as  more  impor- 
tant than  the  other  sons.  What  is  more,  I  frankly 
admit  that,  owing  to  all  this,  the  boy  Joseph  began  to 
be  spoiled,  as  we  say.  You  know  what  that  means, 
being  a  "spoiled"  child. 

At  heart  Joseph  was  a  good  boy  and  meant  to  do 
right.  But  nobody  can  be  petted  in  this  way  and  have 
the  best  things  given  to  him,  and  the  rest  of  the  family 
be  neglected,  without,  by  and  by,  becoming  selfish  and 
inclined  to  think  of  himself  as  being  of  more  impor- 
tance, and  perhaps  to  "show  off"  or  "brag"  a  little. 

And  this  is  what  happened  to  Joseph.  In  spite  of 
his  good  heart  and  honest  character,  he  began  to  talk, 
knowing  as  he  did,  how  much  his  father  loved  him 
more  than  the  other  brothers.  For  instance,  one  time 
Joseph  had  a  dream  and  he  told  it  to  his  brothers,  al- 
though he  ought  not  to  have  done  so,  because  in  the 
way  he  spoke,  it  made  him  look  more  important  and 
made  them  hate  him  more  and  more.  He  said  to  them : 
"Hear  ye,  I  pray,  this  dream  which  I  have  dreamed: 
behold,  we  were  binding  sheaves  in  the  field,  and  lo 
my  sheaf  arose  and  stood  upright,  and  behold,  your 
sheaves  stood  round  about  and  bowed  down  to  my 
sheaf." 

You  can  see  at  once  what  this  meant.  He  was  put- 
ting himself  forward  even  before  his  older  brothers. 
He  ought  not  to  have  done  this.  And  still  we  cannot 
blame  him  very  much,  because  he  was  quite  young  and 
did  not  know  better,  and  his  father  was  spoiling  him. 
But  this  made  his  brothers  very  angry,  as  it  implied 
he  would  rule  over  them.  And  they  said  to  him :  "Shalt 


I IO  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

thou  indeed  reign  over  us  ?"  Then,  as  we  are  told,  they 
hated  him  all  the  more.  When  Joseph  saw  how  his 
brothers  felt,  surely  he  ought  to  have  known  better  than 
to  tell  any  more  dreams.  But  he  was  spoiled  still 
more ;  and  so  when  he  had  another  dream  he  went  and 
told  it  to  his  brothers  in  this  way:  "Behold,  I  have 
dreamed  onpe  more:  the  sun  and  the  moon  and  the 
eleven  stars  made  obeisance  to  me."  This  time,  how- 
ever, his  father  did  not  like  it  and  rebuked  him  for  it, 
seeing  that  it  meant  that  even  the  father  was  going  to  be 
ruled  over  by  him.  And  Israel  said:  "What  is  this 
dream  that  thou  hast  dreamed  ?  Shall  I  and  thy  mother 
and  thy  brethren  come  and  bow  down  ourselves  to  thee 
to  the  earth  ?" 

At  last,  you  see,  the  father  began  to  find  out  the  mis- 
take he  had  made  in  spoiling  Joseph  so  much.  By  this 
time  the  boy  was  about  seventeen  years  old.  One  day 
while  his  brothers  were  taking  care  of  the  flocks  in  a 
place  called  Shechem,  Israel  found  it  necessary  to  send 
word  to  his  other  sons.  And  he  said  to  Joseph :  "Do 
not  thy  brothers  feed  their  flocks  in  Shechem?  come, 
and  I  will  send  thee  unto  them."  And  Joseph  said, 
"Here  am  I."  And  Israel  said  to  him,  "Go  and  see 
whether  it  be  well  with  thy  brothers  and  well  with  the 
flocks  and  bring  me  word  again." 

Joseph  started  out,  but  he  was  not  much  accustomed 
to  traveling;  in  fact,  like  spoiled  children,  he  did  not 
know  how  to  do  anything  for  himself;  and  this  was 
very  bad  indeed.  Yet  he  could  not  help  it;  he  had 
been  brought  up  that  way  and  he  was  to  suffer  for  it  by 
and  by.  He  went,  therefore,  trying  to  find  his  brothers, 
and  came  to  Shechem ;  but  they  were  not  there.  Then 
a  certain  man  found  him  wandering  in  the  field  and 
asked  him,  saying,  "Whom  seekest  thou?"  and  Joseph 
answered,  "I  seek  my  brethren;  tell  me,  I  pray  thee, 
where  they  feed  their  flocks ;"  and  the  man  answered, 
"They  are  departed  hence,  for  I  heard  them  say,  'Let 
us  go  to  Dothan.'  "  And  Joseph  went  after  his  brethren 
and  found  them  at  last  in  Dothan. 

Now,  in  the  meantime,  those  brothers  had  been  talk- 
ing a  good  deal  by  themselves  while  they  were  taking 


THE  PATRIARCHS.  Ill 

care  of  their  flocks.  They  had  grown  more  and  more 
jealous  of  Joseph  and  had  begun  to  dislike  him  exceed- 
ingly, because  they  thought  their  father  liked  him  so 
much  that  he  neglected  them  and  did  not  treat  them 
fairly.  And  while  they  were  talking  together  they 
saw  him  approaching.  Then  all  of  a  sudden  the 
thought  struck  them  that  they  would  seize  him  and  put 
him  to  death.  It  was  an  awful  thought  to  come  to 
them  that  they  would  actually  slay  their  own  brother. 
But  this  is  what  they  said:  "Behold,  this  dreamer 
cometh ;  come  now  therefore,  let  us  slay  him  and  cast 
him  into  one  of  the  pits;  and  we  will  say,  Some  evil 
beast  hath  devoured  him;  and  we  shall  see  what  will 
become  of  his  dreams." 

I  am  happy  to  say  that  one  of  the  brothers  refused  to 
allow  any  such  wickedness.  He  felt  that  there  was  no 
way  of  talking  his  brothers  out  of  their  desire  to  get 
rid  of  Joseph,  and  so  he  said:  "Shed  no  blood;  cast 
him  into  a  pit  nearby  there  in  the  wilderness  and  lay  no 
hand  upon  him." 

You  see  it  was  Reuben's  plan  to  get  the  boy  out  of 
the  pit  later  on  and  send  him  back  to  his  father.  And, 
as  we  are  told,  when  Joseph  was  come  unto  his 
brethren,  they  stripped  him  of  his  coat  of  many  colors 
that  was  on  him  and  they  took  him  and  cast  him  into 
the  pit,  and  the  pit  was  empty ;  there  was  no  water  in  it. 

Now,  if  nothing  else  had  happened,  all  might  have 
gone  well  and  Reuben  might  have  saved  the  boy  and 
sent  him  home.  But  as  the  brothers  sat  down  to  eat 
their  bread,  a  caravan  of  Ishmaelites  came  by  on  their 
way  to  Egypt;  and  Judah,  one  of  the  other  brothers, 
said :  "What  is  the  use  of  slaying  our  brother  by  put- 
ting him  this  way  into  a  pit  ?  Come,  let  us  sell  him  to 
the  Ishmaelites,  so  that  we  shall  not  have  to  feel  that  we 
have  caused  his  death,  inasmuch  as  he  is  our  brother." 
Then  the  other  brothers  hearkened  unto  Judah.  They 
lifted  Joseph  out  of  the  pit  and  sold  him  to  the  Ishmael- 
ites as  a  slave,  for  twenty  pieces  of  silver.  Reuben  had 
not  been  there  when  this  took  place,  and  he  still  thought 
Joseph  was  in  the  pit.  Later  on,  therefore,  he  went 
alone  to  the  spot  in  order  to  take  him  out  and  send  him 


112  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

home.  And  behold,  Joseph  was  not  there.  Then 
Reuben  was  terribly  sorry  and  rent  his  clothes,  and 
he  returned  to  his  brothers  and  said:  "The  child  is 
not;  and  I,  whither  shall  I  go? 

So  the  other  brothers  told  him  what  they  had  done ; 
and  they  felt  that  the  only  thing  they  could  do  was  to 
deceive  their  old  father  Israel  by  making  him  think  his 
boy  was  dead.  They  took  the  coat  of  many  colors  and 
dipped  it  in  the  blood  of  one  of  the  flock  and  brought 
it  to  their  father,  saying,  'This  have  we  found; 
know  now  whether  it  be  thy  son's  coat  or  not."  And 
poor  Israel  saw,  then,  what  a  blow  had  come  upon 
him.  As  far  as  he  knew,  the  darling  of  his  heart  had 
been  devoured  by  wild  animals.  The  troubles  of  his 
life  had  not  come  to  an  end,  although  Esau  had  for- 
given him.  Once  more  he  had  to  think  of  the  wicked- 
ness of  his  younger  days  as  he  said  to  himself :  "The 
punishment  is  coming  now."  And  he  could  only  an- 
swer to  his  sons :  "It  is  my  son's  coat ;  an  evil  beast 
hath  devoured  him;  Joseph  is  without  doubt  torn  to 
pieces."  And  the  dear  old  father  rent  his  garments  and 
put  sackcloth  about  him — which  was  the  custom  in 
those  days  in  time  of  sorrow — and  he  mourned  for  his 
darling  son  many  days.  The  rest  of  his  sons  and 
daughters  tried  to  comfort  him  in  every  way  they  knew 
how,  but  he  refused  to  be  comforted  and  said :  "I  will 
go  down  to  my  grave  mourning  my  son  that  is  lost." 

All  the  while  you  see,  throughout  this  life  of  Israel — 
whose  name  had  been  Jacob — we  keep  thinking  how  the 
wrong  conduct  of  his  earlier  days  was  being  punished. 
And  I  suppose  he  was  all  the  while  thinking  of  it  him- 
self ;  for,  as  we  have  said,  whenever  anything  happened 
to  him,  his  conscience  would  trouble  him  and  he  would 
feel  that  he  was  being  punished  for  his  crime  against 
his  brother  Esau. 

To  THE  TEACHER:  The  "Joseph  Cycle"  of  tales 
make  one  continuous  narrative.  But  in  order  to  fix  the 
incidents  firmly  on  the  mind  it  were  better  to  divide 
them  into  a  number  of  separate  stories.  Have  some 
discussion  as  to  the  characters  of  the  various  brothers 


THE   PATRIARCHS.  113 

and  the  shades  of  guilt  or  innocence  which  they  dis- 
played. Raise  the  question :  Did  Joseph  get  what  he 
deserved  ?  Was  he  really  proud  or  vain ;  or  was  it  only 
because  he  had  been  spoiled  ?  Give  as  the  first  answer : 
Wait  and  see.  Show  how  it  is  that  in  a  young  person 
we  cannot  always  judge,  although  the  person  may  per- 
haps himself  know.  Dwell  on  the  phrase,  because  it 
has  become  classic,  "coat  of  many  colors."  Discuss 
what  sort  of  a  garment  it  may  have  been.  Ask  whether 
the  bad  feelings  of  the  brothers  were  justified ;  or  if  the 
brothers  should  have  considered  and  reflected  that  Jo- 
seph may  have  been  a  little  spoiled  as  the  youngest 
child.  Indicate  how  a  dark  thread  of  deceit  seems  to 
run  all  through  the  experiences  in  the  life  of  Jacob,  as 
if  an  avenging  judgment  was  pursuing-  him.  Show 
how  he  never  seemed  to  be  happy  or  sure  of  anything. 
Introduce  a  picture  of  a  caravan  taking  Joseph  down  to 
Egypt.  You  may  find  it  necessary  to  explain  about  the 
"Ishmaelites"  as  descendants  of  Hagar  and  Ishmael ;  if 
possible  the  point  could  be  passed  over. 

MEMORY  VERSE  :  I  will  go  down  to  my  grave  mourn- 
ing my  son  that  is  lost. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
Joseph  in  Egypt. 

You  can  feel  pretty  sure  that  Joseph  was  no  longer 
a  happy  boy ;  for  he  had  been  a  spoiled  child  and  was 
being  punished  for  it  now.  He  could  not  go  back  to 
abide  with  his  father.  He  was  being  carried  into  Egypt 
as  a  slave,  where  he  would  be  sold  and  have  to  do  hard 
work  and  not  have  any  home  of  his  own,  and  no  mother 
and  father  to  think  about  him  or  care  for  him. 

By  this  time  he  had  come  to  his  senses.  His  real 
character  began  to  show  itself ;  and  he  no  longer  acted 
like  a  spoiled  child,  as  when  he  told  his  dreams  to 
his  brothers.  You  will  want  to  learn  about  what  hap- 
pened to  him  there  in  Egypt.  And  I  might  say  that  a 
great  deal  happened  to  him,  because  by  and  by  he  be- 
came a  very  important  person  there,  owing  to  his  good 
conduct  and  to  the  manly  character  he  displayed  later 
on. 

He  was  bought  as  a  slave  by  an  officer  of  Pharaoh, 
the  king  of  Egypt,  whose  name  was  Potiphar,  a  captain 
in  the  army  there.  For  a  time  Joseph  was  treated  very 
kindly  because  he  was  so  well  behaved.  He  was  given 
a  good  place  in  the  house  and  was  made  an  important 
person  in  the  family.  It  was  there  that  an  evil  temp- 
tation came  to  him  which  I  must  tell  you  about. 

It  seems  that  Potiphar  had  a  beautiful  wife,  who, 
however,  was  not  a  good  woman,  and  was  not  a  true 
wife  to  him  at  all.  She  became  very  fond  of  Joseph, 
and  so  one  day  she  suggested  to  him  that  he  should  be- 
come her  husband.  This  is  something  awful  even  to 
think  about.  But  when  she  proposed  it  to  him,  Joseph, 
like  a  true  man,  said  to  her:  "Behold,  my  master 
knoweth  nothing  about  this  and  hath  put  me  in  charge 

114 


THE   PATRIARCHS.  1 15 

of  everything  in  the  house.  There  is  none  greater 
in  the  house  than  I ;  neither  hath  he  kept  back  anything 
from  me.  How  then  can  I  do  this  great  wickedness?" 
And  she  caught  hold  of  his  garment  in  order  to  per- 
suade him ;  yet  he  would  not  listen  to  her  and  ran  out 
of  the  house.  But  she  had  hold  of  his  coat,  and  as  he 
ran  away  it  slipped  off,  and  she  held  it  in  her  hand. 

Then  of  course  she  was  awfully  afraid.  She  did  not 
know  but  that  Joseph  would  go  and  tell  her  husband 
what  she  had  proposed.  She  had  a  bad  heart  and  was 
going  to  do  anything  to  save  herself  from  punishment ; 
hence  she  decided  that  she  would  accuse  Joseph  of 
having  suggested  to  her  that  she  become  his  wife  and 
leave  Potiphar.  And  when  Potiphar  came  home  she 
stepped  forward  to  meet  him  before  Joseph  might  see 
him,  and  she  said :  "Thy  slave  which  thou  hast  kept  in 
this  house  came  to  me  and  proposed  that  I  should  be- 
come his  wife  and  be  untrue  to  thee;  and  dost  thou 
know,  it  came  to  pass  that  as  I  cried  out,  he  left  his 
garment  by  me  and  fled  ? 

Then,  of  course,  Potiphar,  believing  his  wife  and  not 
knowing  how  untrue  she  was,  grew  very  angry  with 
Joseph  and  put  him  in  prison.  And  there  was  poor 
Joseph,  the  pet  of  his  father,  Israel,  after  having  been 
sold  as  a  slave  by  his  brothers,  now  cast  into  prison 
there  in  Egypt.  Yet  we  cannot  help  admiring  him  and 
feeling  sure  that  it  would  all  come  out  right  by  and  by, 
because  he  had  been  brave  and  true.  You  see,  when 
people  have  the  best  kind  of  a  character,  other  people 
g-et  to  know  of  it  by  and  by.  And  they  discovered  this 
little  by  little ;  the  keeper  of  the  prison  saw  what  a  good, 
noble  young  man  Joseph  was,  and  after  having  been 
told  what  Potiphar  had  done,  he  made  Joseph  keeper  of 
the  prison  there,  giving  him  a  position  of  honor. 

But  I  am  quite  sure  that  Joseph  was  not  happy  dur- 
ing the  time  he  had  this  position  of  honor,  for  he  was 
not  his  own  master  and  could  not  go  back  to  his  dear 
father  Israel.  Yet  there  was  nothing  for  him  to  do 
but  stay  there  and  do  his  duty  as  best  he  knew  how. 

Little  by  little,  in  one  way  or  another,  Joseph  began 


Il6  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

to  be  of  more  and  more  importance;  until  by  and  by 
Pharaoh,  the  king,  heard  of  him.  The  way  it  all  came 
about  was  something!  rather  strange,  and  we  should  not 
quite  understand  it  nowadays.  In  those  times  people 
thought  a  great  deal  about  dreams.  You  can  see  this 
from  the  way  Joseph  told  his  dreams  to  his  brothers 
and  his  father,  and  how  uneasy  they  had  been  made 
by  those  dreams.  Nowadays  we  think  nothing  about 
dreams,  and  know  they  do  not  mean  anything  at  all. 
They  are  just  dreams  and  nothing  more. 

As  it  was,  at  that  time  they  were  always  vtery  much 
troubled  when  some  very  striking  dream  came  to  them, 
and  they  wanted  to  have  it  explained.  Now  Joseph, 
having  been  a  very  bright  boy,  had  a  keen  mind,  and 
he  had  learned  how  to  give  interpretations  of  dreams. 
At  any  rate,  it  showed  he  must  have  had  a  great  deal 
of  mind.  , 

By  and  by  the  king,  Pharaoh,  had  a  dream  which 
troubled  him  very  much.  And  he  sent  for  different  men 
to  see  whether  they  could  interpret  his  dream.  One 
after  another  came  and  told  him  all  sorts  of  things.  But 
he  was  not  satisfied.  Finally  he  was  told  of  this  young 
man,  the  keeper  of  the  prison,  a  slave  who  seemed  to 
know  how  to  explain  dreams.  And  Pharaoh  sent  for 
Joseph  and  told  him  his  story,  and  Joseph  did  the  best 
he  could  to  tell  him  what  it  might  mean.  He  explained 
how,  if  the  dream  were  true,  a  famine  was  coming  in 
Egypt,  so  that  after  there  were  a  number  of  years  of 
plenty,  there  would  be  a  number  of  years  of  want. 
As  we  know,  famines  were  not  unusual  there  in  Egypt. 
They  happened  every  now  and  then.  In  certain  years 
there  would  not  be  enough  water  for  the  land  and  noth- 
ing would  grow.  During  the  hundreds  and  thousands 
of  years  people  have  lived  in  Egypt  this  has  taken 
place  a  great  many  times. 

It  seems  that  Pharaoh  the  king  thought  that  Joseph 
was  right,  and  decided  to  act  on  the  interpretation  of 
his  dream  by  this  young  man.  And  it  all  turned  out 
just  as  Joseph  had  suggested.  For  a  number  of  years 
the  country  was  very  prosperous :  and  then  after  a  while 
famine  came.  There  was  no  water  for  the  land.  The 


THE   PATRIARCHS.  II? 

corn  became  parched  and  dry.  But  owing  to  the  fact 
that  Joseph  had  suggested  how  all  this  might  come  to 
pass,  the  king  had  taken  great  pains  to  have  enough 
food  saved  up  during  the  years  of  plenty,  so  as  to  keep 
the  people  from  starving  to  death  during  the  famine 
that  followed. 

By  this  time  you  can  be  sure  that  Joseph  was  no 
longer  just  a  mere  keeper  of  the  prison.  No;  Pharaoh 
the  king  had  promoted  him  to  be  an  officer  in  the  pal- 
ace. He  was  still,  in  a  sense,  a  slave ;  not  belonging  to 
himself;  yet  he  had  a  very  high  position  and  was  a 
great  man  in  Egypt  in  the  palace  there  of  the  great 
king  Pharaoh. 

To  THE  TEACHER:  Be  careful  in  this  lesson 
not  to  make  too  much  of  dreams.  Treat  the  matter  as 
belonging  to  another  age  and  another  world,  when 
many  things  were  different  from  what  they  are  nowa- 
days. The  main  point  in  this  lesson  is  to  show  the  de- 
veloping character  of  Joseph,  how  well  he  resisted 
temptation  now  that  he  had  to  act  for  himself.  Yet 
do  not  let  the  children  feel  that  he  had  not  been  to 
blame  for  his  foolish  pride  when  at  home  with  his 
brothers.  What  made  his  pride  the  more  contemptible 
at  that  time  was  that  it  was  for  something  on  the  out- 
side. Now  that  he  was  showing,  real  character  and 
knew  there  was  something-  on  the  inside  to  be  proud  of. 
he  was  learning  to  be  humble.  The  analysis  here  could 
be  carried  out  further  with  advantage. 


CHAPTER  XV. 
The  Meeting1  of  Joseph  and  His  Brethren. 

In  the  meantime,  I  am  certain  Joseph  would  be  think- 
ing a  great  deal  of  his  old  father  Israel,  far  away 
there  in  Canaan,  up  in  the  north ;  and  it  happened  that 
this  famine  we  have  told  you  about  spread  beyond 
Egypt,  up  to  where  Israel  and  his  family  lived,  so  that 
there  was  a  great  scarcity  in  that  country  as  well. 

The  word  had  gone  abroad  how  there  was  still  plenty 
in  Egypt  owing  to  the  great  foresight  of  king  Pharaoh. 
And  so  Israel  decided  to  send  his  sons  down  to  Egypt 
in  order  that  they  might  bring  provisions  back  for  their 
need  in  Canaan.  And  this  is  what  he  said  to  his  sons : 
"Why  do  ye  look  upon  one  another?  Behold,  I  have 
heard  that  there  is  corn  in  Egypt ;  get  you  down  thither 
and  buy  from  thence  that  we  may  live  and  not  die." 

And  the  brothers  of  Joseph  started  off  down  to 
Egypt,  although  one  of  their  number  was  kept  behind. 
You  see,  Israel  had  begun  to  suspect  something.  While 
he  thought  it  probable  that  his  youngest  child  Joseph 
had  been  devoured  by  some  wild  animal,  I  fancy  he  did 
not  quite  like  the  way  his  sons  looked  whenever  he 
mentioned  the  name  of  Joseph ;  and  furthermore — and 
this  is  very  sad  to  think  of — he  knew  that  he  had  been 
deceitful  himself,  and  thought  possibly  that  his  sons 
might  also  have  acted  in  this  way. 

However,  after  losing  Joseph,  he  had  made  a  great 
pet  of  his  youngest  boy,  Benjamin,  who  was  born  after 
they  had  left  Laban,  years  before.  He  began  to 
feel  towards  him  in  the  way  he  had  felt  towards  Joseph. 
And  so  he  decided  that  he  would  not  send  Benjamin 
with  the  others,  saying  to  himself :  "Peradventure  lest 
mischief  befall  him." 

118 


THE  PATRIARCHS.  119 

And  the  ten  brothers  came  to  Egypt  in  order  to  buy 
corn.  Now,  Joseph  was  the  chief  officer  and  had  charge 
of  the  sale  of  the  corn  to  all  who  should  come.  Just 
think  how  hard  it  must  have  been  for  him  to  control 
himself  when  suddenly  in  walked  his  ten  brothers  seek- 
ing to  buy  corn  from  him.  But  he  knew  he  must  be 
very  quiet  for  a  time  and  control  himself  and  not  make 
himself  known  to  his  brothers.  In  order  to  do  this,  he 
put  on  a  stern  look  and  used  rather  rough  language, 
saying:  "Whence  come  you?"  and  they  said,  "From 
the  land  of  Canaan  to  buy  food."  They  did  not  know 
Joseph,  however,  because  he  was  so  much  older  now 
and  had  changed  so  much  during  all  the  years  he  had 
lived  in  Egypt. 

Then  Joseph  said  to  them,  "Ye  are  spies,"  meaning 
by  this  to  suggest  that  they  had  not  come  for  the  sake 
of  food,  but  to  do  some  harm  to  Egypt.  But  they  an- 
swered, "We  are  all  one  man's  sons.  We  are  true  men, 
thy  servants  are  no  spies." 

Now  Joseph  knew  that  they  had  not  been  true  men; 
and  he  had  to  be  very  careful  indeed  until  he  found  out 
just  what  they  were  after.  In  the  first  place,  he  saw  that 
his  youngest  brother  was  not  with  them,  and  so  he  put 
them  to  a  test.  He  said  to  them :  "Ye  shall  not  go  forth 
hence  unless  your  youngest  brother  come  thither.  Send 
one  of  you  and  let  him  fetch  your  brother,  and  ye  shall 
be  bound;  that  your  words  may  be  proved  whether 
there  be  any  truth  in  you ;  otherwise  I  shall  be  obliged 
to  think  ye  are  spies." 

At  last,  after  he  had  kept  them  all  there  for  a  num- 
ber of  days,  he  saw  that  probably  it  would  be  impossi- 
ble for  them  to  send  one  of  their  number  to  get  their 
brother ;  and  so  he  decided  to  let  the  others  go,  keeping 
only  one  of  them  behind,  in  order  to  make  sure  that  the 
next  time  they  came  they  would  bring  their  youngest 
brother.  And  he  said  to  them :  "If  ye  be  true  men, 
bring  your  youngest  brother  unto  me." 

They  had  begun  to  feel  that  a  punishment  was  com- 
ing upon  them  for  what  they  had  done  to  Joseph.  I 
am  glad  to  notice  that  even  in  those  early  times  when 
people  did  wrong,  they  became  uneasy,  their  con- 


I2O  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

sciences  troubled  them,  and  they  regretted  what  they 
had  done.  Then  Reuben  said  to  them  'Spake  I  not 
unto  you,  saying,  Do  not  sin  against  the  child?  And 
ye  would  not  hear.  Therefore,  behold,  we  are  to  be 
punished." 

You  see  they  were  talking  together  in  the  presence  of 
Joseph,  using  their  own  tongue,  while  Joseph  had 
learned  to  use  the  language  of  the  Egyptians.  They 
did  not  know,  therefore,  that  he  understood  them. 

You  may  wonder  how  he  could  ask  about  Benjamin 
without  arousing  their  curiosity  or  suspicions ;  but  we 
assume  they  had  been  obliged  to  report  about  their 
family,  as  they  were  strangers  from  another  country; 
hence  probably  it  did  not  surprise  them  that  he  should 
have  spoken  in  this  way. 

But  you  can  imagine  the  feeling  of  Joseph  as  he 
heard  his  brothers  talking  about  him,  knowing  what 
they  were  saying  among  themselves.  For  a  little  while 
it  was  more  than  he  could  stand.  He  got  to  thinking 
about  his  dear  father,  how  fond  he  had  been  of  him ; 
about  his  home,  which  he  might  never  see  again.  He 
thought  so  deeply  about  all  this  that  he  was  obliged  to 
turn  away  to  hide  his  tears. 

After  he  could  control  himself,  he  came  back  and  ex- 
plained to  them  how  he  should  retain  Simeon  until 
they  should  return  with  their  younger  brother  Benja- 
min, assuring  them  that  if  they  did  this  he  would  no 
longer  think  of  them  as  spies. 

In  the  meantime  he  gave  the  order  that  their  sacks 
should  be  rilled  with  corn,  and  that  their  money  should 
not  be  taken,  but  that  it  should  be  put  back  into  their 
sacks.  They  did  not  know  anything  about  this,  of 
course,  and  started  homeward  on  their  journey,  very 
much  troubled  as  to  what  they  should  tell  their  father 
in  regard  to  their  brother  Simeon,  who  had  been  left 
behind. 

On  their  way  home,  as  they  were  obliged  to  open  one 
of  their  sacks,  for  food,  they  found  the  money  lying 
there  in  the  mouth  of  the  sack.  This  troubled  them 
very  much  indeed,  because  they  thought  it  would  look 
as  if  they  had  stolen  the  money ;  although  we  take  it  for 


THE  PATRIARCHS.  121 

granted  that  Joseph  had  done  this  out  of  the  kindness 
of  his  heart,  not  wishing  to  take  any  money  for  what 
was  to  go  back  to  his  own  family,  or  to  his  own 
father. 

By  this  time  they  were  a  most  unhappy  set  of 
brothers,  you  can  be  sure.  But  they  journeyed  on  and 
came  at  last  to  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  approached  their 
father  in  order  to  explain  to  him  what  had  happened. 
This  is  what  they  said  to  Israel :  "The  man,  the  lord  of 
the  land,  spake  roughly  to  us  and  took  us  for  spies  of 
the  country.  We  said  to  him,  We  are  true  men,  we 
are  no  spies ;  we  be  twelve  brothers,  sons  of  our  father ; 
one  is  not,  and  the  youngest  is  this  day  with  our  father 
in  the  land  of  Canaan.  And  the  man,  the  lord  of  the 
land,  said  unto  us:  Hereby  shall  I  know  ye  are  true 
men.  Leave  one  of  your  brethern  with  me  and  take 
corn  for  the  family  of  your  house  and  go  and  bring 
away  your  youngest  brother  unto  me ;  then  shall  I  know 
ye  are  no  spies  and  are  true  men.  So  will  I  deliver  you 
your  brother,  and  ye  shall  have  traffic  in  the  land." 

Poor  Israel  was  unhappy  enough  now.  He  did  not 
know  what  to  think.  He  had  lost  Joseph,  and  now  it 
looked  to  him  as  if  he  would  have  to  lose  Benjamin. 
He  did  not  know,  either,  whether  this  was  all  true; 
whether  he  could  trust  what  his  sons  had  told  him  or 
not.  And  he  cried  out :  "Me  have  ye  bereaved  of  my 
children ;  Joseph  is  not,  and  Simeon  is  not,  and  ye  will 
take  Benjamin  away;  all  these  things  are  against  me." 

The  punishment  for  the  sins  of  his  early  years  were 
enough  upon  him  now — almost  greater  than  he  could 
bear.  Then  Reuben  said  to  his  father :  "Slay  my  two 
sons  if  I  bring  him  not  to  thee;  deliver  him  into  my 
hand  and  I  will  bring  him  to  thee  again."  And  he 
said,  "My  son  shall  not  go  down  with  you.  for  his 
brother  is  dead  and  he  is  left  alone.  If  mischief  befall 
him  by  the  way  in  which  ye  go,  then  shall  ve  bring 
down  my  gray  hairs  in  sorrow  to  the  grave." 

They  waited  a  while  until  the  corn  and  provisions 
which  they  had  brought  from  Egypt  were  exhausted. 
And  Israel  said  to  them,  "Go  again,  buy  us  a  little 
food."  Then  Judah  spake  unto  him,  saying,  "The  man 


122  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

did  solemnly  protest  unto  us,  saying,  Ye  shall  not  see 
my  face  except  your  brother  be  with  you.  If  thou 
wilt  send  our  brother  with  us,  we  will  go  down  and  buy 
thee  food,  but  if  thou  wilt  not  send  him,  we  will  not  go 
down,  for  the  man  said  to  us,  Ye  shall  not  see  my  face 
except  your  brother  be  with  you." 

And  so  Israel  grew  more  and  more  suspicious  and 
more  and  more  unhappy  as  he  thought  about  it,  not 
being  able  any  longer  to  trust  his  own  sons,  as  he  said : 
"Wherefore  dealt  ye  so  ill  with  me  as  to  tell  the  man 
whether  ye  had  yet  a  brother  ?"  And  they  said,  "The 
man  asked  us  of  our  state  and  our  kindred,  saying,  Is 
your  father  yet  alive  and,  Have  ye  another  brother, 
and  we  told  him  according  to  the  tenor  of  these  words. 
Could  we  know  that  he  would  say,  Bring  your  brother 
down?" 

Alas  for  Israel!  Moaning  and  sorrowful  even  yet 
over  the  loss  of  Joseph,  he  now  feared  that  he  must 
lose  Benjamin  likewise.  But  what  could  they  do? 
There  was  no  food;  nothing  was  left  for  their  flocks 
and  herds  and  family,  and  it  looked  as  if  they  must 
starve  to  death.  And  now  Judah  said  to  his  father; 
"Send  the  lad  with  me,  and  we  will  arise  and  go,  that 
we  may  live  and  not  die,  both  we  and  thou  and  also 
our  little  ones.  I  will  be  surety  for  him;  of  my  hand 
shalt  thou  require  him;  if  I  bring  him  not  unto  thee 
and  set  him  before  thee,  then  let  me  bear  the  blame 
forever." 

It  was  too  late  for  Israel  to  refuse.  They  must  have 
food.  There  they  were  at  the  point  of  starvation.  The 
flocks  would  die,  and  the  cattle  would  die ;  there  would 
be  nothing  left  for  them  to  eat.  And  so  he  had  to  give 
in.  But  he  said :  "If  it  must  be  so  now,  do  this :  take 
of  the  best  fruits  of  your  land  in  your  vessels  and  carry 
down  to  the  man  a  present ;  and  take  double  money  in 
your  hand,  both  the  money  that  was  returned  in  the 
mouth  of  the  sacks  and  other  money  besides.  Take 
also  your  brother  and  arise  and  go  to  this  man  again, 
and  may  he  release  unto  you  your  brother  and  Benja- 
min. If  I  am  bereaved  of  my  children,  J  am  be- 
reaved!" 


THE  PATRIARCHS.  123 

To  THE  TEACHER:  Indicate  how  a  general 
thread  of  woe  or  punishment  seems  to  run  all  through 
these  stories  about  Joseph  and  his  father  Jacob — not  as 
if  each  person  always  at  once  gets  what  he  deserves, 
but  as  if  there  were  a  kind  of  judgment  in  the  air 
hanging  over  wickedness.  This  is  the  lesson  of  the 
period  which  should  be  brought  home  to  the  young  peo- 
ple. The  somber  tone  running  through  the  narrative 
should  be  imparted  as  a  sentiment.  The  shading  is 
sad  and  dark.  People  do  not  seem  to  be  happy,  and 
they  do  not  deserve  to  be,  if  they  are  going  to  tolerate 
so  much  wickedness.  Again  dwell  upon  the  pathetic 
side  of  the  life  of  Jacob,  the  seeming  failure  in  spite 
of  outward  prosperity.  Indicate  the  same  weakness  in 
the  man  in  the  way  he  had  favorites  with  his  children. 
Touch  on  the  thread  of  judgment,  in  the  fact  that  his 
career  began  by  just  such  weakness  toward  himself  on 
the  part  of  his  mother.  Show  a  picture  of  the 
"Meeting  of  Joseph  and  His  Brethren." 

MEMORY  VERSES:  Me  have  ye  bereaved  of  my 
children;  Joseph  is  not  and  Simeon  is  not,  and  ye  will 
take  Benjamin  away;  all  these  things  are  against  me. 

My  son  shall  not  go  down  with  you,  for  his  brother 
is  dead  and  he  is  left  alone.  If  mischief  befall  him 
by  the  way  in  which  ye  go,  then  shall  ye  bring  down 
my  gray  hairs  in  sorrow  to  the  grave. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
The  Second  Journey  to  Egypt. 

And  now  those  brothers,  the  sons  of  Israel,  were 
to  go  back  again  to  see  if  they  could  get  more  food, 
and  to  try  if  they  could  bring  back  their  brother  Si- 
meon; hoping  also  to  learn  why  it  was  that  the  man 
there  in  Egypt  thought  of  them  as  spies  and  wanted 
to  meet  their  brother  Benjamin.  When  they  had  ar- 
rived in  Egypt,  and  Joseph  had  learned  that  Benjamin 
was  with  them,  he  told  the  steward  to  bring  them  all 
to  his  house  to  have  them  dine  with  him  there.  And 
the  man  did  as  Joseph  had  told  him  and  brought  the 
men  to  his  home.  But  the  brothers  were  afraid  when 
they  were  brought  into  Joseph's  house,  not  knowing 
what  was  going  to  happen  to  them.  They  did  not 
want  to  go  in;  and  they  said  to  the  steward:  "We 
came  indeed  down  at  the  first  time  to  buy  food;  and 
it  came  to  pass  when  we  came  to  the  lodging  place 
that  we  opened  our  sacks,  and  behold,  every  man's 
money  was  in  the  mouth  of  the  sack,  our  money  in 
full  weight,  and  we  have  brought  it  again,  and  other 
money  have  we  brought  in  our  hands  to  buy  food.  We 
know  not  who  put  our  money  in  our  sacks." 

You  see,  they  were  afraid  they  would  be  accused  of 
stealing  the  money.  But  it  was  going  to  turn  out  all 
right,  as  the  steward  said :  "Peace  be  with  you ;  come, 
and  fear  not.  I  had  your  money."  Then  he  brought 
Simeon  out  unto  them,  and  they  came  into  Joseph',*, 
house,  and  water  was  given  them  and  they  washed 
their  feet,  and  food  was  provided.  Then  they  made 
ready  the  presents  when  Joseph  should  arrive,  after 
they  had  heard  that  they  should  take  their  meal  there. 

And  when  Joseph  came  home,  they  brought  him 

124 


THE  PATRIARCHS.  125 

the  presents  which  were  in  their  hands  into  the  house 
and  bowed  down  before  him,  and  he  asked  them :  "Is 
your  father  yet  alive?"  And  they  answered  him: 
"Thy  servant,  our  father,  is  well,  and  yet  alive."  Then 
Joseph  lifted  up  his  eyes  and  saw  his  younger  brother, 
Benjamin,  and  said,  "Is  this  your  younger  brother 
Benjamin,  of  whom  ye  spake  unto  me?"  And  as  he 
said  this  it  was  too  much  for  him.  There  was  his 
dearest  brother  whom  he  had  not  seen  for  years.  He 
could  not  stay  with  them,  he  was  so  overcome,  other- 
wise they  would  know  at  once  who  he  was.  He  had 
to  go  away  for  a  while  to  shed  tears.  When  he 
was  able  to  control  himself,  he  washed  his  face  and 
came  out  and  ordered  that  food  should  be  set  out  for 
them.  Then  Joseph  told  the  steward  to  fill  their  sacks 
with  as  much  corn  as  they  could  carry,  and  to  put 
every  man's  money  in  his  sack's  mouth.  And  he 
said  something  else,  that  was  rather  strange:  "Put 
my  cup,  my  silver  cup,  in  the  sack's  mouth  of  the 
youngest." 

This  of  course  meant  Benjamin.  I  suppose  Joseph 
did  this  in  order  to  show  his  love  for  his  dear  brother 
— the  next  in  age  to  himself.  The  time  had  not  come 
when  he  thought  it  best  to  make  himself  known  to 
them;  but  his  heart  was  so  full  that  he  had  to  take 
some  way  of  showing  his  feelings ;  and  he  did  it  in  this 
way  by  giving}  to  Benjamin  his  precious  silver  cup. 

Then  they  all  departed,  the  eleven  brothers,  re- 
lieved at  last  of  what  they  had  been  afraid  of,  and 
happy  to  think  that  they  could  go  back  and  restore 
Simeon  and  Benjamin  to  their  father.  But  in  the 
meantime,  Joseph  had  finally  concluded  that  the  time 
had  come  to  make  himself  known  to  them.  He  was 
pretty  sure  now  that  they  had  no  feeling  of  hate  for 
him.  And  so  he  said  to  his  steward  :  "Up,  follow  after 
them,  and  when  thou  dost  overtake  them,  say  unto 
them :  Where  is  my  silver  cup  ?"  And  the  man  over- 
took the  brethren  of  Joseph,  the  sons  of  Israel,  and 
spoke  these  words  to  them — and  of  course  they  did 
not  know  what  to  make  of  it.  And  they  answered: 
"Behold,  the  money  which  we  found  in  our  sack's 


126  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

mouth  we  brought  again  unto  thee  out  of  the  land  of 
Canaan;  how  then  should  we  steal  out  of  thy  lord's 
house  silver  or  gold?  With  whomsoever  of  thy  ser- 
vants it  be  found,  let  him  die,  and  we  also  will  be  thy 
lord's  bondmen." 

They  hastened  to  take  down  every  man's  sack;  and 
search  was  made,  beginning  with  the  sack  of  the  eld- 
est, going  at  last  to  the  youngest;  and  the  cup  was 
found  in  Benjamin's  sack.  Then  the  brethren  rent 
their  clothes.  They  did  not  know  what  to  make  of  it. 
Once  more  it  struck  them  that  trouble  had  come  again 
because  of  their  former  wickedness.  There  was 
nothing  to  do  but  to  go  back  to  the  city.  And  Judah 
and  his  brethren  came  to  Joseph's  house,  for  he  was 
yet  there,  and  they  fell  before  him  on  the  ground.  And 
Joseph  said  unto  them :  ''What  deed  is  this  that  ye 
have  done?"  And  Judah  said:  "What  shall  we  say 
unto  my  lord?  what  shall  we  speak?  how  shall  we 
clear  ourselves?  Behold,  we  are  my  lord's  bondmen, 
both  we  and  he  also  with  whom  the  cup  is  found." 
And  Joseph  said:  "No,  but  the  man  in  whose  hand 
the  cup  is  found,  he  shall  be  my  bondman ;  and  as  for 
you;  get  ye  up  in  peace  unto  your  father." 

Here  was  a  sad  state  of  affairs!  Benjamin  to  be 
retained!  What  would  the  old  father  think?  What 
could  they  tell  him?  He  would  begin  to  suspect  that 
they  had  done  with  their  youngest  brother  as  they 
had  done  with  Joseph.  And  they  felt  it  would  be 
awful  for  him  to  lose  Benjamin  also.  Trouble  was 
upon  them  now,  more  than  enough  of  it !  And  Judah 
made  an  appeal  to  Joseph,  not  knowing  of  course 
whom  he  was  speaking  to,  saying: 

"O,  my  lord,  let  thy  servant  I  pray  thee  speak  a 
word  into  thy  ears.  My  lord  asked  his  servants,  say- 
ing, have  ye  a  father  or  a  brother  ?  And  we  said  unto 
my  lord,  we  have  a  father,  an  old  man,  and  the  child 
of  his  old  age,  a  little  one,  and  his  brother  is  dead. 
And  thou  sayest  unto  thy  servants  bring  him  down 
to  me  that  I  may  see  him.  And  we  said  unto  my  lord, 
The  lad  cannot  leave  his  father,  for  if  he  should  leave 
him,  his  father  would  die.  And  thou  said  unto  thy 


THE  PATRIARCHS.  127 

servants,  Except  your  youngest  brother  come  down 
with  you,  ye  shall  see  my  face  no  more.  And  it 
came  to  pass  that  when  we  came  up  unto  thy  servant, 
my  father,  we  told  him  the  words  of  my  lord.  And  he 
said,  Go  again  and  buy  us  a  little  food,  and  we  said, 
We  cannot  go  down  if  our  youngest  brother  be  not 
with  us ;  and  thy  servant  our  father  said  unto  us,  One 
of  my  children  went  from  me,  and  I  said,  Surely  he 
is  torn  to  pieces,  and  I  have  not  seen  him  since,  and  if 
ye  take  this  one  also  from  me,  and  mischief  befall  him, 
ye  shall  bring  down  my  gray  hairs  in  sorrow  to  the 
grave.  Now  therefore,  when  I  come  to  thy  servant, 
my  father,  and  the  lad  be  not  with  us,  seeing  that  his 
life  is  bound  up  in  the  lad's  life,  he  will  die  and  thy 
servants  shall  bring  down  the  gray  hairs  of  thy  servant 
my  father  in  sorrow  to  the  grave.  Therefore,  I  pray 
thee,  let  thy  servant  abide  instead  of  the  lad  a  bondman 
to  my  lord,  and  let  the  lad  go  up  with  his  brethren ;  for 
how  shall  I  go  up  to  my  father  and  the  lad  be  not  with 
me?  lest  I  see  the  evil  which  shall  come  upon  my 
father." 

Remember,  it  was  Judah  saying  this  to  the  very  one 
whom  he  and  his  brothers  had  sold  into  slavery  in 
Egypt.  You  can  see  what  Joseph  had  found  out  at  last 
— that  Judah  was  willing  to  stay  there  himself  as  a 
bondman,  in  order  that  his  younger  brother  Benjamin 
might  go  back  to  his  old  father.  It  was  plain  that  the 
men  were  different  from  what  they  had  been  when 
they  sold  him  to  the  Ishmaelites  years  and  years  be- 
fore. 

But  it  had  all  come  out  as  Joseph  had  hoped  it  would 
come  out.  If  he  had  not  done  this,  he  would  never 
have  known  whether  his  brothers  had  repented  of  what 
they  had  done  to  him.  See  what  a  good  thing  it  was 
that  he  had  waited  up  to  this  time  before  making  him- 
self known.  It  must  have  been  hard  enough  indeed 
not  to  have  at  once  sent  word  to  his  old  father  that 
he  was  alive  and  prospering. 

It  is  not  easy  for  us  to  understand  how  a  speech  like 
this  could  have  come  from  Judah,  because  it  shows 
what  a  change  had  taken  place  in  the  man's  heart  after 


128  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

all  these  years.  But  the  time  had  come  when  Joseph 
could  restrain  himself  no  longer. 

There  he  was,  alone  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  among  a 
people  to  which  he  did  not  belong.  He  had  been 
thinking  for  years  of  the  time  when  he  could  return 
alone  to  his  home  and  to  his  kindred  in  the  land  of 
Canaan  and  see  his  dear  old  father  once  more.  And 
so  he  ordered  that  everybody  else  should  leave  the 
room  where  they  were,  save  himself  and  his  brothers, 
and  there  stood  no  man  with  him  while  Joseph  made 
himself  known  to  his  brethren.  The  tears  were  run- 
ning down  his  face  as  he  said :  "I  am  Joseph ;  doth  my 
father  yet  live?" 

You  can  fancy  what  a  shock  it  must  have  been  to 
those  men  there — his  elder  brothers.  At  first,  they 
were  afraid.  They  wanted  to  go  away  from  his  pres- 
ence. It  was  the  conscience  within  them  awakening 
and  stirring  them  to  the  memory  of  how  wickedly  they 
had  acted.  And  Joseph  cried  out :  "Come  near  to  me, 
I  pray  you."  And  they  came  near.  And  he  said: 
"I  am  Joseph,  your  brother,  whom  ye  sold  into  Egypt. 
Now,  therefore,  be  not  grieved  nor  angry  with  your- 
selves that  ye  sold  me  hither.  For  it  has  all  turned 
out  well.  Haste  ye  and  go  up  to  my  father,  and  say 
unto  him,  Thus  saith  thy  son  Joseph:  Come  down 
unto  me ;  tarry  not ;  and  thou  shalt  dwell  nearby  in  the 
land  of  Goshen,  thou  and  thy  children,  and  thy  chil- 
dren's children,  and  thy  flocks  and  thy  herds  and  all 
that  thou  hast,  and  there  will  I  nourish  thee  through 
the  famine,  for  the  famine  is  not  yet  over." 

Then  he  fell  upon  his  brother  Benjamin's  neck  and 
wept ;  and  Benjamin  wept  upon  his  neck,  and  they  all 
began  to  talk  together. 

To  THE  TEACHER:  There  is  no  special  lesson 
to  be  drawn  from  this  chapter  save  in  the  generous 
spirit  manifested  by  Joseph.  There  might  be  some 
questioning  as  to  the  essential  traits  of  the  character 
of  Joseph  in  contrast  with  the  other  brothers.  Show 
how  the  spirit  of  Abraham  seemed  to  reappear  in  the 


THE  PATRIARCHS.  I2Q 

attitude  of  gentle  courtesy  on  the  part  of  this  grand- 
son as  seen  in  his  words  and  behavior.  It  could  also 
be  hinted  that  perhaps  Joseph  was  now  realizing  that 
he  had  been  somewhat  to  blame,  and  therefore  felt 
more  ready  to  forgive.  He  had  learned  a  sad  lesson 
from  his  boyish  pride.  Touch  on  the  filial  feeling  he 
displayed  in  the  language  used  about  his  old  father. 

MEMORY    VERSE:      /  am  Joseph;  doth  my  father 
yet  live? 


CHAPTER  XVII. 
The  Death  of  Israel. 

Soon  it  was  made  known  to  Pharaoh  the  king  what 
had  happened,  because  Joseph  was  such  an  important 
man  now  in  Egypt.  And  Pharaoh,  who  was  very  fond 
of  Joseph,  told  his  brothers  to  go  back  into  Canaan 
and  bring  their  father  and  their  families  down  into 
Egypt,  where  they  should  be  well  provided  for.  This 
is  what  King  Pharaoh  said  to  them:  "Now  thou  art 
commanded,  this  do  ye :  take  wagons  out  of  the  land 
of  Egypt  for  your  little  ones,  and  for  your  wives,  and 
bring  your  father  and  come,  for  the  good  of  all  the 
land  of  Egypt  is  yours." 

Then  Joseph  provided  them  with  wagons  according 
to  the  commandment  of  Pharaoh,  and  gave  them  pro- 
visions for  the  way,  with  raiment  and  silver  and  money 
as  they  needed.  Besides  this,  he  sent  his  father  a 
great  present  to  show  his  love  for  him. 

You  can  be  sure  that  they  were  only  too  glad,  these 
brethren,  to  get  back  into  the  land  of  Canaan  and  to  tell 
their  father  that  Joseph  was  alive.  They  knew  how 
ashamed  they  would  be  when  they  had  to  make  it 
known  to  him ;  but  they  were  sorry  for  it  all  now,  and 
years  had  gone  by.  What  they  wanted  to  do  was  to 
go  to  their  father  and  tell  him  about  Joseph's  power 
in  the  land,  and  persuade  him  to  go  with  all  the  rest 
of  the  family  and  live  down  there  in  Egypt. 

We  can  imagine  how  glad  at  heart  Israel  would  be 
at  the  tidings.  But  he  had  suffered  a  great  deal  and 
had  also  learned  a  great  deal  from  sad  experience. 
What  is  more,  his  own  sad  life  had  made  him  suspi- 
cious. Therefore,  when  they  told  him,  saying,  "Joseph 
is  yet  alive  and  is  a  ruler  down  in  Egypt/  the  old 

130 


THE  PATRIARCHS.  13! 

man's  heart  fainted  and  he  would  not  believe  it. 
Then  they  told  him  the  words  that  Joseph  had  said  to 
them;  and  when  Israel  saw  the  wagons  which  Joseph 
had  sent  to  carry  him  and  the  others  down  into  Egypt, 
his  heart  revived  and  he  said:  "It  is  enough!  Joseph, 
my  son,  is  yet  alive;  I  will  go  and  see  him  before  I 
die." 

And  so  they  set  out,  Israel  with  his  sons  and  their 
wives  and  their  little  ones,  and  all  they  could  take  with 
them.  Altogether,  it  is  said,  there  were  sixty-six  peo- 
ple who  went  down  to  Egypt. 

In  the  •meantime,  what  do  you  suppose  Joseph  was 
doing?  Do  you  think  he  staid  at  home,  waiting  till  his 
father  should  come?  No;  he  was  not  that  kind  of  a 
son,  although  he  had  been  a  spoiled  child.  All  that 
was  gone  by  long  ago.  At  heart  he  had  been  true ;  and 
since  he  had  come  to  Egypt  he  had  been  a  brave  and 
honest  man,  longing  each  day  and  each  year  once  more 
to  see  his  old  father  Israel. 

Just  as  soon,  therefore,  as  he  knew  they  were  com- 
ing down  to  Egypt,  he  got  his  chariot  ready  and  went 
out  to  greet  his  father.  And  when  they  met,  he  fell 
on  Israel's  neck  and  wept  a  long  while.  And  Israel 
said  unto  Joseph :  "Now  let  me  die  since  I  have  seen 
thy  face  and  thou  art  yet  alive."  And  Joseph  said 
unto  his  brethren  and  to  his  father :  "I  will  go  up  and 
and  tell  Pharaoh  and  say  unto  him,  My  brethren  and 
my  father's  house  are  come  unto  me  with  their  flocks 
and  their  herds  and  all  they  have."  Then  Joseph  went 
in  and  told  Pharaoh,  saying :  "My  father  and  brethren, 
their  flocks,  their  herds  and  all  that  they  have,  are 
come  out  of  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  behold,  they  are 
in  the  land  of  Goshen."  And  Pharaoh  the  king  came 
to  them  and  they  said  to  him :  "To  sojourn  in  the  land 
are  we  come,  for  there  is  no  pasture  for  thy  servants' 
flocks,  for  the  famine  is  sore  in  the  land  of  Canaan ; 
now  therefore,  we  pray  thee,  let  thy  servants  dwell  in 
the  land  of  Goshen."  And  Pharaoh  said  unto  Joseph 
these  words :  "Thy  father  and  thy  brethern  are  come 
unto  thee.  In  the  best  of  the  land  make  thy  father  and 
thy  brethren  dwell.  In  the  land  of  Goshen  let  them 
dwell." 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

And  Joseph  was  very  anxious  that  the  king,  his 
master,  should  meet  Israel,  his  father,  and  talk  with 
him.  Hence  he  arranged  it  and  brought  in  Israel,  hii 
father,  into  the  presence  of  the  king.  Now  Israel  was 
a  very  old  man,  and  so  he  placed  his  hands  on  the 
head  of  Pharaoh  and  blessed  him.  And  Pharaoh  said 
unto  Israel:  ''How  many  are  the  years  of  thy  life?" 
and  Israel  said  unto  Pharaoh :  "The  days  of  the  years 
of  my  pilgrimage  are  one  hundred  and  thirty  years." 
Then  they  parted,  and  Israel  went  to  live  with  his  sons 
in  Goshen. 

You  can  see  that  Israel  had  been  a  very  oW  man,  a 
hundred  and  thirty  years  of  age,  when  he  came  to 
Egypt ;  but  he  was  happy  with  his  sons  and  family,  and 
with  his  youngest  boys,  Joseph  and  Benjamin,  restored 
to  him — so  happy,  indeed,  that  he  lived  seventeen  years 
longer,  until  he  was  a  hundred  and  forty-seven  years 
old. 

Then  came  the  time  for  him  to  die.  But  he  did 
not  want  that  his  body  should  be  buried  there  in  Egypt. 
He  remembered  his  father  Isaac,  and  his  mother 
Rebekah,  and  his  grandfather  Abraham,  where  they 
were  buried.  And  as  he  drew  near  his  end  he  called 
his  son  Joseph  to  him  and  said:  "If  I  have  found 
grace  in  thy  sight  put,  I  pray  thee,  thy  hand  under  my 
thigh,  and  deal  kindly  and  truly  with  me;  bury  me 
not,  I  pray  thee,  in  Egypt.  But  I  will  lie  with  my 
fathers  and  thou  shalt  carry  me  out  of  Egypt  and 
bury  me  with  my  fathers."  And  Joseph  said:  "I 
will  do  as  thou  hast  said."  And  Israel  continued: 
"Promise  me,"  and  Joseph  promised  him. 

Then  Joseph  brought  his  two  sons  to  the  bedside 
of  the  dying  father  Israel.  And  Israel  beheld  Joseph's 
sons  and  said:  "Who  are  these?"  and  Joseph  said 
unto  him:  "They  are  my  sons."  And  Israel  said: 
"Bring  them  close  and  I  will  bless  them." 

Now  the  eyes  of  Israel  were  dimmed  for  age  so  that 
he  could  not  see.  So  Joseph  brought  them  near  to  him 
and  Israel  blessed  them  and  embraced  them,  and,  plac- 
ing his  hands  on  their  heads,  he  gave  them  his  bless- 
ing. 


THE  PATRIARCHS.  j$ 

When  the  old  man  was  dead,  Joseph  said  to  Phara- 
oh: "My  father  made  me  promise,  saying,  in  the 
grave  which  I  have  prepared  for  me  in  the  land  of 
Canaan,  there  shalt  thou  bury  me.  Now,  therefore, 
let  me  go  up,  I  pray  thee,  and  bury  my  father,  and  I 
will  come  again."  And  Pharaoh  said:  "Go."  And 
Joseph  went  up  into  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  all  his 
brethren  with  him,  and  buried  his  father,  and  they 
laid  the  body  of  Israel  away  in  the  cave  in  the  field 
of  Machpelah,  which  Abraham  bought  with  the  field, 
a  long  while  before  as  a  burial  place,  from  Ephron. 

Then,  when  they  had  all  come  back  again,  the 
brethren  began  to  be  a  little  afraid  of  what  Joseph 
might  do,  thinking  still  of  the  great  wrong  they  had 
committed  against  him  in  former  times.  And  they 
came  to  him  asking  his  forgiveness,  and  Joseph  said: 
"Fear  not;  it  is  true  you  meant  evil  against  me,  but 
it  has  turned  out  well.  Now,  therefore,  fear  not;  I 
will  provide  for  you  and  your  little  ones."  And  he 
spake  kindly  unto  them  and  forgave  them. 

To  THE  TEACHER  :  At  the  end  of  this  lesson  there 
should  be  a  careful  review  of  the  whole  narrative  con- 
cerning Jacob  or  "Israel."  It  could  be  shown  how 
often  it  happens  that  prosperity  does  not  bring  happi- 
ness, especially  where  there  is  a  recollection  of  some 
wrong  or  mistake  in  one's  past  life.  The  whole  nar- 
rative could  be  used  as  a  lesson  on  the  evils  of  deceit 
and  what  a  dark  shadow  it  may  throw,  not  only  over 
the  one  guilty  of  it,  but  over  many  others  as  well- 
how  it  spreads  and  perpetuates  itself  in  a  thousand 
ways.  The  haunting  doubt  with  which  Jacob  met 
the  assurance  that  Joseph  was  alive  further  illustrates 
the  same  point,  because  Jacob's  life  and  conduct  had 
led  him  to  distrust  others.  Show  a  picture  of  Joseph 
meeting  "Israel,"  or  of  "Israel"  blessing  the  sons  of 
Joseph. 

MEMORY  VERSE  :  Noiv  let  me  die  since  I  have  seen 
thy  face  and  thou  art  yet  alive. 


PART  III. 

EGYPT  AND  THE  WILDERNESS. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 
The  Birth  of  Moses. 

I  have  been  telling  you  for  a  long  while  about  those 
patriarchs,  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob ;  how  they  be- 
haved ;  what  happened  to  them ;  and  how,  at  last,  Jacob, 
afterwards  renamed  Israel,  came  with  all  his  family 
to  dwell  in  Egypt;  how  he  died  there  and  how  they 
carried  his  body  back  to  Canaan  and  buried  it  in  the 
cave  of  Machpelah. 

Now  we  shall  narrate  further  how  this  large  family 
went  on  growing  year  after  year,  becoming  greater 
in  numbers  and  more  and  more  important  in 
Egypt.  All  those  belonging  to  this  great  family  were 
called  "Israelites";  and  so  we  must  begin  by  telling 
you  about  the  "Children  of  Israel"  in  Egypt. 

For  a  time  you  can  be  sure  they  were  happy  and  con- 
tented down  there,  even  if  they  were  far  away  from 
their  former  home  in  the  land  of  Canaan.  You  see, 
Joseph  had  behaved  so  well  and  become  such  an  im- 
portant person  under  the  king  of  Egypt  that  all  the 
members  of  his  family  were  treated  very  kindly.  As 
you  remember,  they  had  taken  up  their  home  in  what 
was  called  Goshen,  where  they  had  plenty  of  land  for 
themselves  and  for  their  flocks  and  herds.  At  the 
same  time  you  must  not  forget  that  they  did  not  have 
the  same  religion  as  the  people  of  Egypt,  but  went  on, 
I  am  glad  to  say,  thinking  of  the  Lord,  the  Ruler  of 
the  World,  who  had  taken  care  of  them  when  they 
were  in  the  land  of  Canaan. 


EGYPT  AND  THE  WILDERNESS.  135 

All  went  on  well  for  a  while,  as  we  have  said. 
Just  how  long,  I  do  not  know ; — perhaps,  a  long  while 
after  the  days  of  Joseph  and  Pharaoh,  the  king  of 
Egypt,  who  had  been  so  kind  to  Joseph,  and  who  had 
invited  the  Israelites  to  come  down  and  live  in  Egypt. 

But  by  and  by  trouble  came ;  and  it  grew  worse  and 
worse.  This  great  family  of  Israelites  became  larger 
and  larger,  until  at  last  it  is  said  they  numbered  sev- 
eral hundred  thousand  people.  Now,  that  is  a  great 
many  persons.  They  had  gained  a  good  deal  of  wealth 
and  were  becoming  more  and  more  important  in  Egypt, 
until  finally  the  people  who  had  lived  there,  be- 
fore Israel  came  down  with  his  family,  began  to  be 
jealous.  They  said  to  themselves:  "Perhaps,  by  and 
by  these  Children  of  Israel  will  rise  up  and  conquer 
us  and  take  possession  of  our  whole  country  and  rule 
over  us ;  and  we  ought  not  to  let  this  come  to  pass." 

At  first,  of  course,  they  only  said  these  things  to 
themselves,  without  doing  anything.  But  they  grew 
more  and  more  uneasy,  and  it  may  be  also  that  the 
Israelites  became  rather  proud  of  their  success  and 
their  prosperity.  Perhaps  they  had  better  habits  and 
behaved  themselves  better  than  the  Egyptians,  and 
this  made  them  more  successful  in  a  great  many  ways. 
It  very  often  happens,  however,  you  know,  when  peo- 
ple behave  well  or  become  successful  or  prosperous 
that  they  grow  proud ;  and  I  ?m  a  little  afraid  for  this 
reason  that  the  Israelites  began  to  show  some  pride. 
At  any  rate,  at  last  there  came  a  king  over  Egypt 
who  had  forgotten  all  about  Joseph  and  what  had  been 
done  by  him  a  long  while  before ;  or  if  he  remembered 
about  Joseph  he  did  not  care.  He  made  up  his  mind 
that  the  time  had  come  to  do  something  in  order  to 
check  their  prosperity.  Kings  in  those  days  had  a  great 
deal  of  power,  and  they  could  do  almost  anything 
they  pleased,  so  that  it  was  a  sorry  day  when  this 
king-  arose,  who  was  unfriendly  to  the  Israelites. 

This  is  what  he  said  to  the  people  of  Egypt :  "Be- 
hold, the  people  of  the  Children  of  Israel  may  become 
more  and  mightier  than  we  are;  come,  let'  us  deal 
wisely  with  them  lest  they  multiply  and  it  come  to 


136  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

pass  that  when  we  have  war  they  join  themselves  unto 
our  enemies  and  fight  against  us  and  do  us  harm." 

Just  as  soon  as  the  Children  of  Israel  heard  about 
this  they  were  very  much  troubled.  There  was  noth- 
ing for  them  to  do.  They  were  in  a  country  belong- 
ing to  another  people  and  ruled  over  by  a  king  who 
was  not  of  their  own  race.  Up  to  this  time  all  had 
gone  very  well  with  them.  Now  there  was  a  change. 
The  new  king  had  made  up  his  mind  that  he  would 
make  slaves  of  the  Children  of  Israel,  putting  heavy 
burdens  upon  them,  and  set  them  to  very  hard  and  tire- 
some work.  And  so  he  placed  taskmasters  over  them, 
who  were  Egyptians,  to  afflict  these  people  with  heavy 
burdens. 

In  those  days  the  people  of  Egypt  were  building 
new  cities,  and  the  Children  of  Israel  were  made  to 
do  the  hard  work  in  building  these  new  cities  for  the 
Egyptians.  In  this  way  the  king  hoped  that  a  great 
many  of  them  would  die,  so  that  they  would  become 
less  in  number  and  be,  therefore,  much  less  dangerous. 
But  it  did  not  have  that  effect.  The  Children  of 
Israel  went  on  growing  more  and  more  in  numbers ; 
and  the  king  of  Egypt  grew  more  and  more  troubled 
as  to  what  he  should  do.  Then  he  tried  to  make  the 
Israelites  work  harder  and  harder,  and  to  make  their 
lives  bitter  with  hard  service.  In  mortar  and  in  brick 
and  in  all  manner  of  service  in  the  field  they  were 
made  to  serve  with  rigor. 

The  Israelites  had  now  become  slaves.  They  were 
no  longer  their  own  masters,  and  were  really  owned 
by  the  king  of  Egypt.  The  happy  times  when  they 
had  first  settled  in  the  land  were  now  all  gone  by.  The 
little  children  had  to  work  just  like  their  fathers  and 
mothers.  They  could  not  go  out  and  play  like  the 
little  Egyptian  children.  They  no  longer  had  nice 
homes,  such  as  they  had  when  Joseph  was  alive,  and 
when  they  lived  under  the  former  king  Pharaoh.  Now 
they  had  hard  beds,  or  had  to  sleep  on  the  ground  and 
live  in  huts  or  wherever  they  could  find  a  place  to 
rest.  As  I  have  said,  when  the  little  children  grew 
older  and  wanted  to  go  and  play,  instead  they  had  to 


EGYPT  AND  THE  WILDERNESS.  137 

work  along  with  their  fathers  and  mothers.  And  so 
great  trouble  indeed  had  come  upon  the  poor  Israel- 
ites. I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  all  this  was  a  punish- 
ment for  their  pride,  although  I  feel  quite  sure  that 
some  of  this  would  not  have  happened  to  them  if  they 
had  always  shown  the  right  kind  of  spirit.  But  even 
when  people  behave  well,  sometimes  troubles  have  to 
come,  especially  when  they  are  dealing  with  other 
selfish  people  who  dislike  them  or  hate  them.  Up  to 
this  time  the  Children  of  Israel,  however,  had  still 
continued  to  remember  their  Lord  the  Ruler  of  the 
World,  and  had  not  done  anything  really  very  bad,  save 
by  showing  that  spirit  of  pride  which  I  have  told  you 
about. 

The  Great  Ruler  meant  surely  by  and  by  to  save 
them  by  taking  them  away  from  the  Egyptians  and 
having  them  go  back  to  the  land  of  Canaan.  You 
remember,  that  country  had  been  promised  to  the 
family  of  Abraham,  and  the  people  felt  that  their  Lord 
always  kept  his  promises.  It  may  be  that  the  Ruler 
of  the  World  was  disappointed  because  the  people 
themselves  had  not  long  before  that  time  gone  back 
to  the  land  of  Canaan  which  had  been  promised  them ; 
and  this  may  be  one  reason  why  he  had  allowed  them 
to  get  into  all  this  trouble.  They  had  come  down  to 
Egypt  mostly  because  of  the  famine ;  and  perhaps  they 
ought  to  have  gone  back  to  Canaan  just  as  soon  as  the 
famine  was  over.  But  they  found  themselves  quite 
happy  down  there  in  Egypt  with  plenty  of  food  for 
themselves  and  all  their  flocks  and  herds,  and  so  they 
staid  there  among  strangers.  You  remember  the  Lord 
at  that  time  did  not  want  his  people  to  stay  among 
strangers;  he  wanted  that  they  should  stay  among 
themselves  and  learn  to  do  right,  instead  of  follow- 
ing the  bad  habits  of  other  people.  And  I  am  very 
much  afraid  that  the  Israelites  had  begun  to  follow 
some  of  these  bad  habits  among  the  Egyptians. 

But  altogether  the  Israelites  were  now  having  a  bad 
time  of  it  and  we  cannot  help  feeling  very  sorry  for 
them  indeed.  I  am  sure  they  talked  a  great  deal  about 
the  old  promise  that  was  made  to  Abraham,  how  all 


138  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

the  earth  should  be  blessed  through  their  family,  and 
also  how  they  should  inherit  the  land  of  Canaan. 
But  you  see,  they  had  done  nothing  themselves  in  order 
to  help  carry  out  that  (promise.  They  ought  to  have 
thought  about  this  a  long  while  before,  when  they 
were  not  slaves. 

Now  the  worst  trouble  of  all  came  to  the  poor  Chil- 
dren of  Israel,  the  Israelites  down  there  in  Egypt.  The 
king  of  Egypt  had  made  up  his  mind  that  something 
definite  must  be  done  in  order  to  keep  them  from 
growing  in  numbers  and  becoming  dangerous ;  and  so 
he  gave  a  terrible  order  to  his  officers.  He  told  them 
that  they  should  put  to  death  all  the  little  children  if 
they  were  boys,  as  soon  as  they  were  born,  while  the 
little  girls  should  be  spared.  This  is  what  the  king 
commanded :  "Every  son  that  is  born  to  the  Israelites 
ye  shall  cast  into  the  river,  but  every  daughter  ye  shall 
save  alive."  Then  there  was  woe  upon  the  children  of 
Israel.  Just  think  what  that  meant.  Fathers  and 
mothers  were  to  lose  their  little  ones  and  not  to  have 
any  sons  to  grow  up  to  take  their  places  and  to  pro- 
vide for  them  when  they  were  old.  Mothers  were  to 
see  their  little  boys  torn  from  their  arms  and  thrown 
into  the  river.  And  there  was  weeping  and  wailing 
among  all  the  Israelites.  If  you  had  been  there  at 
that  time  and  gone  into  their  homes  you  would  have 
seen  mothers  everywhere  with  tears  running  down  their 
faces ;  and  fathers  while  they  were  at  work,  with  tears 
in  their  eyes  also,  all  of  them  thinking  of  their  little 
ones  who  were  to  be  cast  into  the  river,  that  great 
river  which  flows  through  the  land  of  Egypt. 

But  I  must  tell  you  about  what  happened  to  one 
of  those  little  boys  belonging  to  one  of  the  families  of 
the  Israelites.  In  one  of  these  homes  a  little  boy  was 
born  and  for  a  few  days  his  mother  was  very  happy 
indeed.  She  held  her  child  in  her  arms,  looking  at  it 
and  kissing  its  sweet  face  and  thinking  how  dear  it 
was  to  her;  but  every  now  and  then  the  tears  would 
come  to  her  eyes  and  she  would  look  away  in  fear,  lest 
the  Egyptians  should  see  her  little  boy  and  carry  him 
away  to  be  thrown  into  the  river.  She  made  up  her 


EGYPT  AND  THE  WILDERNESS.  139 

mind  that  she  would  try  to  save  the  little  one  if  pos- 
sible, and  not  let  the  wicked  Egyptians  know  anything 
about  her  boy.  For  a  time  she  succeeded,  and  the 
Egyptians  did  not  find  out  about  this  little  child.  But 
as  time  went  on,  week  after  week  and  month  after 
month,  the  mother  grew  more  and  more  anxious.  At 
last,  when  the  little  boy  was  three  months  old  it  be- 
came known  to  her  that  she  could  not  hide  him  from 
them  any  longer.  She  was  quite  sure  that  the  Egyp- 
tians would  find  her  little  boy  and  take  him  away. 

Then  what  do  you  suppose  this  mother  did  ?  It  was 
something  very  curious.  We  should  never  have 
thought  of  it !  She  set'to  work  and  made  a  little  cradle 
which  was  called  an  ark,  out  of  the  reeds  or  bulrushes, 
as  they  were  termed,  growing  by  the  banks  of  the  river ; 
and  she  covered  it  ovefr  with  slime  and  with  pitch  so 
that  it  was  a  kind  of  cradle,  or  ark.  Then  she  put  the 
child  in  the  ark  and  she  laid  it  in  the  flags  or  reeds 
down  by  the  brink  of  the  great  river.  She  had  made 
up  her  mind  that  if  she  kept  the  child  it  would  be  taken 
away  from  her;  and  she  thought  perhaps  if  she  put 
the  child  down  by  the  river's  brink  in  the  ark  of  bul- 
rushes, perhaps  some  Egyptian  might  find  the  little 
one,  and  not  knowing  that  it  was  an  Israelite,  adopt 
it  and  bring  up  the  little  one,  instead  of  throwing  it 
into  the  river.  In  the  meantime  she  placed  the  child's 
sister  to  watch  what  would  happen. 

And  what  would  you  fancy  took  place?  Well,  I  will 
tell  you.  It  seems  that  just  about  that  time  the  daugh- 
ter of  the  king  of  Egypt  came  down  to  bathe  in  the 
river,  and  her  maidens  walked  along  by  the  river's  side. 
And  behold,  she  saw  the  ark  among  the  flags  and  sent 
her  hand-maiden  to  fetch  it.  The  mother  had  covered 
it  over  very  carefully,  so  that  this  princess  did  not 
know  what  was  in  the  ark.  She  had  just  noticed  it 
there  and  had  wanted  to  look  at  it.  And  so  she  raised 
the  cover  of  the  tiny  ark,  and  looked  in,  and  there 
she  saw  the  little  child.  And  as  she  looked,  the  eyes 
of  the  child  opened  and  the  poor  little  one  began  to 
cry,  longing  for  his  mother.  Not  far  away,  the  poor 
mother  may  have  heard  the  cry,  yet  dared  not  go  near. 

But  the  fair  princess  stood  looking  at  the  child  in 


140  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

the  ark  and  her  heart  was  touched.  She  said  to  her 
maidens  around  her :  'This  is  one  of  the  children  of 
the  Hebrews" — meaning  the  Israelites.  Then  the  sister 
said  to  the  princess:  " Shall  I  gio  and  call  thee 
a  nurse  from  one  of  the  women  of  Israel,  that  she 
may  nurse  the  child  for  thee  ?"  And  the  princess  said 
to  her:  "Go."  And  the  maid  went  and  found  the 
child's  mother.  Just  think  how  happy  that  mother 
must  have  been !  She  was  to  be  called  and  asked  to 
act  as  a  nurse  for  her  own  child,  her  little  boy.  And 
he  was  not  to  be  cast  into  the  river  after  all.  The  prin- 
cess did  not  know,  of  course,  that  this  was  the  child's 
mother  and  the  mother  dared  not  tell  her.  But  now 
the  princess  said  to  her:  "Take  this  child  away  and 
nurse  it  for  me  and  I  will  pay  thee  wages."  Then 
the  mother  took  the  child  and  nursed  it,  and  the  little 
boy  went  on  growing  and  was  treated  as  if  he  were 
the  son  of  this  beautiful  princess,  the  daughter  of  the 
King  of  Egypt.  And  do  you  know  what  name  was 
given  to  the  little  boy  ?  Why,  they  called  him  Moses, 
because  in  her  language  it  meant  "Being  drawn  up  out 
of  the  water."  You  may  have  heard  already  about 
"Moses  in  the  bulrushes,"  and  the  beautiful  princess 
who  saved  him  and  brought  him  up  as. her  own  child. 
I  tell  you  about  this  because  by  and  by  Moses  became 
a  very  important  person  and  you  will  want  to  know  all 
about  him. 

To  THE  TEACHER:  The  account  of  the  sufferings 
of  the  Israelites  may  be  expanded  somewhat.  But 
the  blame  must  not  be  cast  wholly  on  the  Egyptians. 
Point  out  the  dangers  from  prosperity  in  the  rise  of 
pride  and  arrogance.  Make  a  good  deal  of  the  story 
of  the  birth  of  Moses,  showing  a  picture,  perhaps,  of 
the  "bulrushes"  along  the  Nile,  and  of  the  women  com- 
ing down  to  the  river.  Pictures  of  some  of  the  monu- 
ments could  also  be  introduced  with  illustrations  of 
slaves  at  work  on  palaces  and  temples.  The  narrative 
must  now  be  somewhat  more  continuous.  Yet  it  would 
better  be  broken  up  into  special  topics  as  far  as  this 
can  be  done  conveniently.  The  divisions  of  the  sub- 
ject could  be  altered  if  desired. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
The  Burning  Bush. 

Now  you  must  hear  something  about  that  boy 
Moses.  As  you  remember,  he  belonged  to  the  people 
of  Israel.  But  by  and  by  as  he  grew  older  he  had 
been  taken  away  from  his  mother  and  carried  to  the 
home  of  the  princess,  where  he  had  been  brought  up 
as  an  Egyptian.  Yet  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  as  the 
boy  began  to  talk  before  he  had  been  carried  to  the 
palace  of  the  King  of  Egypt,  his  mother  must  have 
told  him  who  he  was,  and  how  she  had  saved  him. 
She  had  warned  him  that  he  must  not  say  anything 
about  this,  lest  he  should  be  put  to  death.  And  so 
when  the  time  came  for  him  to  be  carried  away  there 
was  nothing  to  be  done.  He  had  to  bid  his  mother 
good-bye  and  go  off  and  live  in  the  beautiful  home 
of  the  princess,  where  he  was  to  be  educated  as  an 
Egyptian.  I  suppose  if  it  had  been  any  one  else  but 
a  princess,  the  daughter  of  the  king,  this  would  not 
have  been  allowed ;  because  the  king  had  commanded 
that  all  the  boys  born  to  the  Israelites  should  be  cast 
into  the  river. 

In  the  meantime  everything  was  growing  worse  and 
worse  for  the  poor  Children  of  Israel.  Their  tasks 
were  becoming  harder  and  harder,  and  the  Egyptians 
were  treating  them  more  and  more  like  slaves.  There 
were  fewer  children  in  their  homes  now  and  they  had 
less  and  less  hope.  In  the  meantime  there  was  Moses 
who  was  not  being  treated  as  a  slave,  but  as  a  prince ; 
yet  he  never  forgot  that  he  belonged  to  the  people 
of  Israel,  and  that  he  was  not  an  Egyptian.  He 
knew  how  his  people  were  suffering;  how  they  were 
being  made  slaves,  while  he  was  being  brought  up 

141 


142  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

as  a  prince.  And  he  kept  thinking  about  this  a  great 
deal,  although  he  did  not  forget  how  kindly  he  had 
been  treated  by  the  princess,  because  he  was  not 
an  ungrateful  boy. 

One  day,  however,  after  he  had  grown  up,  he  was 
in  one  of  those  cities  where  the  people  of  Israel  were 
working  night  and  day  as  slaves ;  and  he  looked  on 
until  it  seemed  as  if  it  was  more  than  his  heart  could 
bear.  He  did  not  know  what  he  could  do.  He 
thought  of  going  back  and  pleading  with  the  prin- 
cess, asking  her  if  she  would  not  try  and  do  some- 
thing for  his  people.  But  he  knew  that  while  she 
had  been  kind  to  him  she  could  not  influence  the 
king  or  the  rest  of  the  Egyptians,  who  had  become 
selfish  and  hardhearted  and  cared  nothing  whatever 
for  the  poor  Israelites.  And  as  he  stood  looking  on, 
he  saw  one  of  the  Egyptians  striking  one  of  the  Isra- 
elites and  just  about  to  kill  him.  This  was  more  than 
Moses  could  stand.  He  turned  to  save  the  man  of 
his  own  race  and  in  doing  so  he  slew  the  Egyptian. 
Then  he  did  not  know  what  he  was  to  do.  He  was 
quite  sure  that  if  it  became  known  how  he  had  slam 
an  Egyptian,  he  would  be  put  to  death,  even  if  he  had 
been  brought  up  as  the  son  of  the  princess.  He 
looked  this  way  and  that,  asking  himself  what  course 
he  had  better  take.  Should  he  go  back  and  plead 
with  the  princess?  But  he  said  to  himself,  "No,  it 
will  be  of  no  use.  I  must  fly." 

Hence  Moses  had  to  leave  his  beautiful  home  where 
he  had  had  everything  he  wanted,  and  had  been  treated 
as  a  prince  for  many  years.  He  had  to  flee  and  go 
into  another  country,  where  the  people  should  not 
know  him.  And  he  went  to  the  land  of  Midian. 
But  even  when  he  came  there  he  did  not  know  how 
he  should  be  treated.  He  was  not  sorry  for  what  he 
had  done.  He  knew  it  was  right.  He  had  saved  the 
life  of  one  of  his  fellow  men ;  a  man  who  had  belonged 
to  his  own  race  and  who  was  about  to  be  killed  by 
the  wicked  Egyptian.  Moses  was  not  a  man  to  regret 
having  done  what  was  ri^ht.  He  never  for  once 
thought  about  that  beautiful  palace  and  wished  him- 


EGYPT  AND  THE  WILDERNESS.  143 

self  back  there.  But  yet,  here  he  was,  alone  in  the 
land  of  Midian,  with  nothing  to  drink  nor  eat,  and 
not  knowing  how  he  was  going  to  take  care  of  him- 
self. He  came  at  last  to  a  well  in  that  country.  And 
as  he  stood  there  by  the  well  a  number  of  young  women 
came  to  draw  water  to  give  drink  to  their 
fathers'  flocks.  But  somie  other  shepherds  came  up 
and  drove  them  away.  This  was  anything  but  a  brave 
and  manly  thing  for  young  men  to  attack  those  young 
women  and  drive  them  away.  Surely,  we  cannot  help 
thinking  that  such  men  must  have  been  cowards.  But 
there  was  Moses  all  alone,  looking  on.  And  so  he 
stepped  in  and  attacked  the  men.  And  although 
there  were  a  number  of  them  and  he  was  all  alone,  he 
succeeded  and  they  fled;  so  that  the  young  women 
could  go  back  and  give  water  to  their  flocks. 

Then  Moses  came  forward  and  helped  them  draw 
water.  This  was  a  kind  act  and  those  young  women 
felt  that  a  great  service  had  been  done  them  by 
this  brave  young  man,  Moses.  They  went  home, 
therefore,  to  their  father  and  told  him  how  a  man 
had  rescued  them  and  how  he  had  stayed  to  help  them 
water  their  flocks.  This  is  what  they  said  to  their 
father:  "An  Egyptian  delivered  us  out  of  the  hand 
of  the  shepherd ;  and  moreover  he  drew  water  for  us 
and  watered  the  flocks."  And  he  said  unto  his  daugh- 
ters, "Where  is  he?  Why  is  it  that  ye  have  left  the 
man?  Call  him,  that  he  may  come,  and  eat  bread." 
At  once  they  went  and  called  Moses.  They  liked  him 
very  much  indeed  for  what  he  had  done  for  them. 
And  Moses  felt  at  home  with  them.  It  quite  often 
happens,  as  you  know,  that  people  feel  very  kindly 
toward  the  persons  for  whom  they  have  done  a  service. 
Surely  Moses  liked  this  man  and  his  family  all  the 
more;  and  he  stayed  with  them  and  the  father  gave 
him  one  of  his  daughters  to  become  his  wife ;  and  her 
name  was  Zipporah.  And  there  was  Moses  with  his 
wife  Zipporah,  living  in  the  Land  of  Midian  alone, 
far  away  from  his  own  people,  not  daring  to  go  back, 
lest  he  should  be  put  to  death  by  the  king  of  the  Egyp- 
tians. 


144  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

While  he  was  staying  in  Midian,  however,  he  had 
a  peculiar  experience ;  and  it  became  the  turningi  point 
in  his  life.  It  seems  that  at  one  time  when  in  care 
of  his  flocks  he  brought  them  to  a  place  called  Mount 
Horeb.  And  as  he  was  staying  there  we  are  told 
how  he  observed  a  flame  of  fire  coming  out  of  the 
midst  of  a  bush.  He  looked  and  behold  the  bush 
burned  with  fire  and  the  bush  was  not  consumed.  And 
Moses  said :  "I  will  turn  aside  now  and  see  this  great 
sight,  why  the  bush  is  not  burned."  Then  as  he  drew 
near  he  heard  a  voice  saying  to  him:  "Moses! 
Moses!"  And  he  answered,  "Here  am  I.",And  the 
voice  said:  "Draw  not  nigh  hither;  put  off  thy  shoes 
from  off  thy  feet,  for  the  place  whereon  thou  standest 
is  holy  ground." 

And  Moses  felt  that  it  was  the  voice  of  the  Great 
Ruler  speaking  to  him.  Out  of  the  burning  bush  came 
a  charge  to  him  that  he  should  go  back  to  Egypt,  see 
the  king  there  and  ask  to  bring:  all  the  Israelites  over 
to  this  mountain  where  they  could  worship.  This,  of 
course,  was  a  fearful  responsibility.  Think  what  it 
would  mean  for  Moses  to  go  and  appear  before  the 
great  king  of  Egypt  and  make  such  a  demand  ?  What 
could  he  say  and  how  should  he  address  the  king? 
As  he  stood  there  thinking,  he  answered  to  the  voice: 
"I  am  not  eloquent,  neither  heretofore,  nor  since  thou 
hast  spoken  unto  thy  servant ;  for  I  am  slow  of  speech 
and  of  a  slow  tongue."  Then  came  the  reply  from  the 
voice:  "Is  there  not  Aaron  thy  brother?  I  know 
that  he  can  speak  well.  Thou  shalt  speak  unto  him 
and  put  words  into  his  mouth.  I  will  be  with  thy 
mouth  and  with  his  mouth  and  will  teach  you  what 
ye  shall  do,  and  he  shall  be  thy  spokesman." 

There  was  nothing  left  for  Moses  now  but  to  go 
forward  and  obey.  He  knew  at  any  rate  that  the 
men  who  sought  his  life  in  Egypt  were  now  all  dead. 
He  took  his  wife  and  his  sons,  therefore,  and  returned 
to  that  country. 

Then  he  found  his  brother  Aaron,  according  to  the 
charge  laid  upon  him,  and  they  went  in  and  told  Pha- 
raoh, the  king  of  Egypt :  "Thus  saith  the  Lord,  Let 


EGYPT  AND  THE  WILDERNESS.  145 

my  people  go  that  they  may  hold  a  feast  unto  me  in 
the  Wilderness."  And  Pharaoh  said,  "Who  is  the  Lord 
that  I  should  obey  his  voice  to  let  Israel  go?  I  know 
not  the  Lord  and  I  will  not  let  Israel  go.  Wherefore  do 
ye,  Moses  and  Aaron,  loose  the  people  from  their 
work  ?  Get  ye  unto  your  burdens." 

And  Pharaoh  commanded  the  same  day  the  taskmas- 
ters of  the  people  and  their  officers,  saying :  "Ye  shall 
no  more  give  the  people  straw  to  make  brick  as  here- 
tofore; let  them  go  and  gather  straw  for  themselves; 
let  there  more  work  be  laid  upon  the  men  that  they 
may  labor  therein;  and  let  them  not  regard  vain 
words." 

This  was  hard  indeed  upon  the  children  of  Israel. 
They  were  expected  henceforth  to  make  their  bricks 
without  straw,  as  it  was  said  to  them :  "Get  you  straw 
where  ye  can  find  it ;  go  therefore  now  and  work ;  for 
there  shall  no  straw  be  given  you,  but  ye  shall  deliver 
the  tale  of  bricks."  And  so  it  was  that  the  sufferings 
of  the  people  were  greater  than  ever.  , 

To  THE  TEACHER  :  Tell  the  fore  part  of  the  chapter 
simply  as  a  portion  of  the  general  narrative.  Touch 
upon  the  sterling  character  of  Moses  in  standing  by 
his  people  and  being  willing  to  give  up  the  life  of  the 
palace  for  their  sakes.  You  could  expand  upon  the 
honors  and  luxuries  he  would  have  to  lose,  and  what 
it  meant  for  him  to  go  and  dwell  in  a  strange  coun- 
try and  to  put  up  with  severe  hardships  after  the  life 
of  a  palace.  The  story  of  the  "burning  bush"  is 
classic  and  must  not  be  overlooked.  It  would  be  bet- 
ter not  to  introduce  any  pictures  in  connection  with 
it  as  this  would  make  it  too  realistic.  Call  attention 
to  the  phrase  "making  bricks  without  straw"  because 
of  the  way  this  has  passed  into  everyday  speech. 

MEMORY  VERSE:  Put  off  thy  shoes  from  off  thy 
feetf  for  the  place  whereon  thou  standest  is  holy 
ground. 


CHAPTER  XX. 
Moses  and  Pharaoh. 

We  come  now  to  a  strange  and  curious  part  of  our 
story.  It  will  seem  extraordinary  enough,  as  if  it  be- 
longed quite  to  another  world.  We  know,  however, 
that  something  terrible  did  happen  and  punish- 
ment came  upon  the  wicked  Egyptians  for  their  selfish- 
ness. 

You  see,  they  had  made  slaves  of  the  poor  Israelites, 
treating  them  not  like  human  beings,  but  as  if  they 
were  brutes,  making  them  do  the  harder  kind  of  work, 
and  beating  them  as  a  man  would  his  camels.  They 
kept  all  the  best  food  for  themselves,  giving  to  the 
Israelites  only  enough  to  save  them  from  starving  to 
death.  They  showed  no  pity  and  no  mercy.  They 
were  very  selfish  and  bad ;  and  when  people  are  thor- 
oughly selfish,  as  they  were,  it  is  pretty  sure  that  a 
time  will  come  when  they  will  be  sorry  for  it.  And 
the  time  came  when  the  Egyptians  were  sorry  enough 
for  the  way  they  had  acted,  and  were  only  too  glad  to 
let  the  Israelites  go. 

Moses  and  Aaron  once  more  addressed  the  king 
of  Egypt  and  told  him  the  command  of  the  Great  Ruler, 
that  he  was  to  let  the  people  go.  And  then  there  came 
to  pass  the  awful  "Plagues"  which  you  may  have  heard 
about.  I  will  tell  you  about  some  of  them.  You  see, 
they  were  as  a  punishment  for  the  wicked  selfishness  of 
the  Egyptians,  and  the  selfishness  of  the  wicked 
Egyptian  king. 

The  king  would  not  listen  for  a  moment  to  Moses 
and  Aaron,  and  refused  what  they  asked  for.  And  so 
the  Lord  over  All  said  to  Moses :  "The  king's  heart 
is  stubborn,  he  refuses  to  let  the  people  go;  get  thee 

146 


EGYPT  AND  THE  WILDERNESS, 

linto  him  in  the  morning;  Lo,  he  goeth  out  unto  the 
water,  and  thou  shalt  stand  by  the  river's  brink  to 
meet  him.  Take  thou  thy  rod  in  thine  hand  and  thou 
shalt  say  unto  him:  the  Lord,  the  friend  of  the 
Israelites  hath  sent  me  unto  thee,  saying,  Let  my  people 
go;  and  behold,  heretofore  thou  hast  not  hearkened. 
Now  thus  saith  the  Lord:  Behold,  I  will  smite  with 
this  rod  upon  the  waters  which  ate  in  the  river,  and 
they  shall  be  turned  to  blood.  And  the  fish  that  is  in  the 
river  shall  die,  and  the  river  shall  stink,  and  the  Egypt- 
ians shall  loathe  to  drink  the  water  of  the  river." 

And  Moses  did  just  as  he  was  told.  He  lifted  up 
the  rod  and  smote  the  waters  of  the  liver  in  the  sight 
of  the  king  and  his  servants ;  and  we  are  told  that  all 
the  waters  in  the  river  were  turned  to  blood,  and  the 
fish  that  were  in  the  river  died  and  the  river  stank; 
and  the  Egyptians  could  not  drink  the  water  of  the 
river,  and  there  was  blood  throughout  all  the  land  of 
Egypt. 

This  was  certainly  something  awful  to  happen  there 
in  that  country ;  and  we  might  feel  sure  that  after  what 
took  place,  the  king  of  Egypt  would  be  only  too  glad 
to  let  Moses  and  Aaron  have  their  way,  and  allow  the 
Children  of  Israel  to  depart.  And  so  after  all  this, 
Moses  and  Aaron  thought  that  the  king  of  Egypt 
would  give  his  consent.  But  no,  the  king's  heart  was 
hardened,  and  he  hearkened  not  unto  them.  He  turned 
and  went  back  into  his  house;  neither  did  he  lay  even 
this  to  heart. 

Then  there  was  another  plague.  The  rod  was 
stretched  forth  over  the  waters  of  Egypt,  and  we  are 
told  that  frogs  came  up  and  covered  the  land  of  Egypt. 
They  came  into  the  palace  of  the  king;  into  his  bed 
chamber;  into  the  houses  of  his  servants;  into  their 
ovens.  All  the  land  was  smitten  with  frogs. 

This  was  more  than  the  king  of  Egypt  could  endure. 
And  he  said  to  Moses  and  Aaron :  "Entreat  the  Lord 
that  he  take  away  the  frogs  from  me  and  my  people, 
and  I  will  let  the  people  go."  And  they  said  to  the 
king :  "Be  it  according  to  thy  word."  And  the  frogs 
died  out  of  the  houses  and  out  of  the  courts  and  out 


148  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

of  the  fields.  But  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  just  as  soon 
as  the  country  was  relieved  of  the  plague,  the  king 
of  Egypt,  overcome  by  his  selfishness,  hardened  his 
heart  and  refused  to  keep  his  promise.  He  would  not 
let  the  children  of  Israel  go.  And  it  was  necessary 
for  another  plague  to  come  upon  Egypt. 

By  this  time  we  almost  begin  to  feel  pity  for  these 
selfish  people  and  for  their  foolishly  selfish  king.  They 
were  getting  the  punishment  they  deserved.  And  the 
Lord  said  this  to  Moses :  "Rise  up  early  in  the  morn- 
ing and  stand  before  the  king;  lo  he  goeth  forth  to 
the  water,  and  say  unto  him :  "Thus  saith  the  Lord : 
Let  my  people  go ;  else  if  thou  wilt  not  let  my  people  / 
go,  I  will  send  swarms  of  flies  upon  thy  servants  and 
upon  thy  people  and  into  the  houses  of  the  Egyptians. 
But  in  the  land  of  Goshen  that  day  no  swarm  of  flies 
shall  be  there." 

And  all  this  happened,  as  we  are  told,  and  there  came 
grievous  swarms  of  flies,  and  the  whole  land  was  cor- 
rupted by  reason  of  this  most  fearful  plague.  Then  for 
a  time  it  looked  as  if  the  king  would  give  in.  He  was 
surely  being  punished  enough.  And  he  said  to  Moses 
and  Aaron :  "I  will  let  you  go ;"  and  Moses  said,  "Be- 
hold, I  go  out  from  thee  and  I  will  entreat  the  Lord 
that  the  swarms  of  flies  may  depart  from  Pharaoh  and 
his  servants,  and  from  his  people ;  but  let  not  Pharaoh 
deal  deceitfully  any  more  in  not  letting  the  people  go 
forth." 

And  then,  can  you  really  believe  it? — when  the 
swarms  of  flies  had  departed,  the  king  changed  his 
mind  again,  becoming  more  selfish  than  ever.  He 
hardened  his  heart  this  time  also,  and  would  not  let 
the  people  go.  So  there  was  another  awful  plague 
which  came  upon  the  cattle  of  Egypt,  and  nearly  all 
the  cattle  of  Egypt  died. 

It  was  the  same  story  over  again.  The  king  of 
Egypt  would  consent  until  the  plague  was  removed; 
and  then  he  would  change  his  mTmd  and  would  not 
let  the  people  go.  There  was  a  plague  of  Darkness, 
which  you  would  surely  think  would  bring  the 
Egyptians  to  their  senses.  We  are  told  that  the  whole 


EGYPT  AND  THE  WILDERNESS.  149 

land  was  covered  by  a  thick  darkness,  "a  darkness  so 
thick  that  it  could  be  felt" 

But  the  thick  darkness  that  hung  over  the  Egyptians 
for  a  number  of  days,  and  the  plague  which  killed  the 
cattle — all  this  did  not  move  the  king  of  the  Egyptians. 
He  kept  on  getting  more  and  more  selfish,  promising 
to  let  the  people  go  during  the  time  that  the  plague 
lasted,  and  then  when  it  was  over,  breaking  his 
promise. 

Finally  came  the  last  and  most  awful  punishment, 
something  too  terrible  to  think  of.  But  it  brought  the 
king  of  Egypt  and  his  people  to  their  senses  and  made 
them  cry — "we  have  had  enough."  This  is  what 
Moses  and  Aaron  at  last  said  to  the  king :  "Thus  saith 
the  Lord :  About  midnight  will  I  go  out  into  the  midst 
of  Egypt  and  all  the  first-born  children  in  the  land  of 
Egypt  shall  die,  from  the  first-born  of  Pharaoh  that 
sitteth  upon  the  throne,  even  unto  the  first-born  of  the 
maid  servant  that  is  behind  the  mill,  and  all  the  first- 
born of  cattle ;  and  there  shall  be  a  great  cry  through- 
out all  the  land  of  Egypt  such  as  there  was  none  like 
it  nor  shall  be  like  it  any  more." 

But  the  king  of  Egypt  would  not  listen,  and  the  evil 
came.  First,  however,  the  children  of  Israel  had  to 
be  told  what  they  were  to  do.  Moses  and  Aaron  felt 
quite  sure  now,  if  this  punishment  fell  upon  the 
Egyptians,  that  the  time  would  come  when  the 
Israelites  would  be  allowed  to  go  forth  from  the  land. 

And  this  is  what  the  Lord  said  to  Moses  and  Aaron : 
"Speak  ye  unto  all  the  congregation  of  Israel,  saying, 
In  the  tenth  day  of  this  month,  they  shall  take  to  them 
every  man  a  lamb,  according  to  their  father's  houses, 
a  lamb  for  a  house;  and  if  the  household  be  too  little 
for  a  lamb,  let  him  and  his  neighbor  next  to  him  take 
it  according  to  the  number  of  souls,  every  man  accord- 
ing to  his  eating  shall  make  count  for  the  lamb.  And 
they  shall  take  his  blood  and  put  it  on  the  two  side 
posts  and  upon  the  lintel  and  upon  the  houses  wherein 
the  people  shall  eat  it.  And  they  shall  eat  the  flesh  in 
that  night  roasted  with  fire.  And  thus  shall  ye  eat  it ; 
with  your  shoes  on  your  feet  and  with  your  staff  in 


150  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

your  hand,  and  ye  shall  eat  it  in  haste.  For  I  will  go 
through  the  land  of  Egypt  in  that  night,  and  will  smite 
all  the  first-born  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  both  man  and 
beast.  And  the  blood  shall  be  to  you  for  a  token  upon 
the  houses  where  ye  are,  and  when  I  see  the  blood  I 
will  pass  over  you  and  there  shall  be  no  plague  of  this 
kind  upon  you  to  destroy  you  when  I  smite  the  land  of 
Egypt." 

And  so  the  Children  of  Israel  were  ready.  They  had 
made  up  their  minds  to  follow  Moses  and  Aaron,  and 
to  obey.  The  night  arrived  when  this  awful  doom  was 
to  fall  upon  Egypt.  And  the  Children  of  Israel  by 
their  households  took  each  a  lamb  and  killed  it  and 
put  some  of  its  blood  upon  the  door  posts  and  upon 
the  lintels,  and  then  cooked  the  food  and  ate  it  in  the 
night,  all  dressed  and  ready  to  go  forth  as  soon  as  they 
should  be  summoned  by  Moses. 

Midnight  came.  And  it  came  to  pass  that  the  Lord 
smote  all  the  first-born  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  from 
the  first-born  of  the  king  of  the  Egyptians  that  sat  on 
his  throne,  unto  the  first-born  of  the  captive  that  was 
in  the  dungeon,  and  all  the  first-born  of  the  cattle.  And 
the  king  of  Egypt  rose  up  in  the  night,  and  there  was 
a  great  cry  in  Egypt,  for  there  was  not  a  house  where 
there  was  not  one  dead.  And  the  king  called  for  Moses 
and  Aaron  and  said:  "Both  ye  and  the  Children  of 
Israel,  go :  take  both  your  flocks  and  your  herds,  and 
begone."  And  the  Egyptians  were  urgent  upon  the 
people  and  sent  them  out  of  the  land  in  haste,  for  they 
said :  "Or  we  be  all  dead  men." 

To  THE  TEACHER  :  The  ethical  element  in  the  story 
of  the  "Plagues"  is  feeble.  It  only  suggests  how  pun- 
ishment in  the  long  run  somehow  hangs  over  selfish- 
ness or  wickedness.  But  children  ought  to  learn  the 
story,  because  its  details  have  entered  so  intimately 
into  the  language  of  Christendom.  Something  might 
be  said  of  the  human  nature  shown  by  the  king  in 
giving  in  when  in  trouble,  but  falling  back  into  selfish- 
ness as  soon  as  the  trouble  is  over.  This  could  be 


EGYPT  AND  THE  WILDERNESS.  15! 

pointed  out  as  a  common  trait  with  a  great  many  people 
who  may  be  only  frightened  into  doing  better,  but  who 
do  not  really  change  at  heart.  It  must  rest  with  the 
teacher  or  the  head  of  the  school  where  these  lessons 
are  used,  to  decide  as  to  how  far  this  narrative  should 
be  taken  as  literal  history,  or  how  far  as  simply  tradi- 
tion. 


CHAPTER  XXL 
The  Flight  of  the  Israelites. 

And  now  you  would  like  to  know  what  happened  to 
the  Children  of  Israel — where  they  went,  what  they 
did,  how  they  behaved  and  how  soon  they  came  to 
Palestine  or  the  Land  of  Canaan. 

Well,  for  their  sakes,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  it  was  a  long 
time;  because  they  did  not  behave  very  well.  They 
were  very  much  like  children ;  and  it  was  necessary  that 
they  should  learn  how  to  obey  before  they  were  allowed 
to  go  back  to  the  Land  of  Canaan,  the  land  of  Abra- 
ham, Isaac  and  of  Jacob,  or,  as  they  now  thought  of  it, 
"the  Promised  Land." 

I  have  no  doubt  as  they  went  forth  from  the  land 
of  Egypt  that  they  began  to  think  at  once  how,  in  a 
few  days,  they  were  to  come  to  the  country  "flowing 
with  milk  and  honey,"  where  they  could  go  and  have 
plenty  to  eat  and  drink,  with  no  more  trouble,  no  more 
hard  work,  no  more  slavery.  But  if  they  had  been 
allowed  to  go  there  at  once  they  would  probably  not 
have  been  able  to  conquer  the  land,  and  would  have  be- 
come selfish  and  wicked,  just  like  the  Egyptians. 

Unfortunately  they  had  formed  many  bad  habits 
while  they  had  been  in  Egypt,  and  they  had  learned 
many  bad  habits  from  the)  Egyptians  themselves.  And 
so  it  was  going  to  be  a  good  many  years  before  they 
would  be  allowed  to  enter  the  Land  of  Canaan. 

First,  they  were  to  go  into  what  was  then  known  as 
the  "Wilderness."  You  may  like  to  know  how  many 
of  these  people  there  were.  Well,  there  were  more 
than  you  could  count.  You  see,  they  had  been  living 
so  long  in  Egypt — it  was  said  that  it  was  now  four 
hundred  and  thirty  years  since  Israel  came  down  wit^ 
his  family — that  they  had  increased  and  rrmUir<iw 
enormously.  At  this  time  we  are  told  they  nurrf  c: 

153 


EGYPT  AND  THE  WILDERNESS.  153 

six  hundred  thousand  men  and  women,  besides  the 
little  children.  And  now,  as  we  are  assured,  it  came  to 
pass  at  the  end  of  four  hundred  and  thirty  years,  even 
the  self-same  day,  it  came  to  pass,  that  the  Children  of 
Israel  went  out  from  the  land  of  Egypt. 

But  then  something  else  happened.  There  was  the 
king  of  the  Egyptians,  and  the  people ;  and  they  got  to 
thinking  that  if  the  Israelites  went  away  they  would 
not  have  them  for  slaves  any  more.  And  they  began 
to  say  that  perhaps  after  all  there  would  be  no  more 
plagues.  The  king  therefore  decided  to  go  out  with 
his  army  and  capture  the  Children  of  Israel  and  bring 
them  back  again — the  six  hundred  thousand  with  all 
their  little  ones. 

And  the  king  of  Egypt  said  to  himself:  "What  is 
this  that  I  have  done  that  I  have  let  the  Children  of 
Israel  go  from  serving  us?"  And  he  made  ready  his 
chariot  and  took  his  soldiers  with  him,  six  hundred 
chosen  chariots,  and  captains  over  all  of  them.  And 
he  set  out  to  pursue  the  Israelites  with  his  horsemen 
and  his  army,  and  finally  he  overtook  them  encamped 
by  the  Red  Sea. 

Then  the  Children  of  Israel  looked  back  and  they 
were  frightened  enough.  They  had  no  chariots  and 
no  swords  to  fight  with,  and  they  knew  nothing  about 
warfare.  There  they  were,  by  the  waters  of  the  Red 
Sea  with  the  army  of  the  king  of  Egypt  coming  down 
upon  them. 

You  observe  now  just  how  like  children  they  were. 
Instead  of  being  trustful  after  being  saved  in  this  way, 
they  turned  in  anger  upon  Moses  and  said  :  "Because 
there  were  no  graves  in  Egypt,  hast  thou  taken  us 
away  to  die  in  the  Wilderness  ?  Wherefore  hast  thou 
dealt  thus  with  us  to  carry  us  forth  out  of  Egypt  ?  Did 
we  not  say  to  thee,  Let  us  alone  that  we  may  serve  the 
Egyptians  ?  For  this  would  have  been  better  than  that 
we  should  die  here  in  the  Wilderness. " 

This  surely  must  have  been  discouraging  to  Moses 
and  Aaron.  But  something  happened  which  saved  the 
Israelites.  You  see,  th'ety  were  right  up  at  the  north 
end  of  the  Red  Sea,  where  the  waters  were  not  very 


154  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

deep;  and  sometimes  the  winds  blow  there  for  a  long 
while  very  hard,  and  blow  the  waters  away  further 
down,  leaving  the  bottom  of  the  sea  bare.  And  this 
happened  just  at  the  very  time  when  the  Israelites 
were  there  on  the  banks,  while  they  were  waiting, 
thinking  they  would  all  be  killed  by  the  army  of  the 
King  of  Egypt.  And  while  they  were  watching  the 
great  cloud  of  dust  made  by  the  chariots  advancing, 
the  wind  started  to  blow,  and  it  blew  harder  and 
harder,  until  the  waters  began  gradually  to  disappear, 
and  by  and  by,  when  the  Israelites  turned  away  from 
watching  the  cloud  of  dust  made  by  the  advancing 
army,  behold,  where  the  water  had  been,  lo,  there  was 
no  water  at  all ;  nothing  but  the  bottom  of  the  sea. 

Then  you  can  be  sure  the  Israelites  were  ashamed 
for  the  way  they  had  talked  and  blamed  Moses  and 
Aaron.  And  they  started  at  once  to  cross  to  the  other 
side.  The  winds  were  blowing  very  strongly,  and  the 
waters  were  kept  far  away ;  and  so  the  Israelites  were 
able,  the  whole  six  hundred  thousand  of  them,  with 
their  children,  to  reach  the  other  side  of  the  Red  Sea 
in  safety. 

Just  at  this  time,  when  they  were  safe  on  the  other' 
side,  the  winds  stopped  blowing,  and  the  waters  began 
to  come  back.  The  king  of  Egypt  was  furious  when 
he  saw  the  Israelites  escaping,  and  he  started  therefore 
to  cross  the  Red  Sea  with  his  chariots  and  his  soldiers. 
And  at  the  very  time  when  they  were  crossing,  the 
waters  came  back  with  a  rush,  overthrowing  the 
Egyptians  in  the  midst  of  the  sea.  As  we  are  told: 
the  waters  returned  and  covered  the  chariots  and 
horsemen ;  even  all  the  host  of  the  king  of  Egypt  that 
went  down  pursuing  the  Israelites,  and  there  remained 
not  so  much  as  one  of  them.  In  this  way  the  Children 
of  Israel  were  saved  that  day  from  the  hands  of  the 
Egyptians.  They  had  crossed  the  Red  Sea  and  were 
safe  on  the  other  side,  and  the  Egyptians  with  their 
king  had  been  drowned  in  the  waters. 

Surely  now  the  Israelites  had  reason  to  be  grateful 
to  Moses  and  to  Aaron  and  to  their  Lord,  the  Ruler 
of  the  World,  after  the  way  they  had  been  preserved 


EGYPT  AND  THE  WILDERNESS.  155 

and  set  free  from  the  yoke  of  slavery.  And  what  do 
you  suppose  they  did?  As  soon  as  they  were  landed 
on  the  other  side  in  safety  and  there  was  no  longer 
any  danger  of  being  pursued  by  the  Egyptians,  I  am 
glad  to  say  that  they  rested  and  sang  a  hymn  of  praise 
to  the  Ruler  of  the  World — all  the  people  together,  six 
hundred  thousand  of  them,  with  the  children,  for  I 
am  sure  the  children  sang  at  the  same  time.  They  all 
took  up  the  words,  singing  and  shouting  for  very  joy : 
"I  will  sing  unto  the  Lord,  for  he  hath  triumphed  glor- 
iously ;  the  horse  and  his  rider  hath  he  thrown  into  the 
sea.  The  Lord  is  my  strength  and  my  song,  and  he  is 
become  my  salvation;  the  Lord  is  his  name.  Who  is 
like  unto  the  Lord  ?  Who  is  like  unto  the  Lord  in  his 
gloriousness  and  holiness,  fearful  in  praises,  doing 
wonders  ?" 

You  see,  the  people  did  not  feel  proud  at  that  time, 
as  if  they  had  done  all  this  themselves.  They  had  suf- 
fered so  long  and  been  so  unhappy  in  all  their  troubles, 
that  they  were  only  too  glad  to  have  escaped,  and  took 
no  praise  to  themselves  for  it.  They  felt  that  they 
owed  it  all  to  the  Great  Ruler  of  the  World. 

To  THE  TEACHER  :  Dwell  in  this  lesson  on  the  char- 
acteristic of  "childishness."  Have  a  good  deal  to  say 
about  the  habit  of  finding  fault  with  everything.  Ask 
why  it  is  that  grown  people  do  this  less  than  children, 
and  whether  children  should  not  try  to  conquer  the 
habit.  This  point  is  to  come  out  repeatedly  in  these 
stories.  Ask  what  is  meant  by  "whining,"  and  why 
such  conduct  is  contemptible.  Begin  to  comment  on 
the  patience  of  Moses.  Perhaps  now  there  might  be 
some  maps  introduced  showing  the  Red  Sea  and  the 
peninsular  of  Sinai,  as  well  as  the  neighboring  country 
of  Egypt.  Speak  of  the  "crossing  of  the  Red  Sea" 
as  a  great  event  in  the  history  of  the  world.  The  song 
at  the  end  might  be  learned  by  heart. 

MEMORY  VERSE:  Because  there  were  no  graves  in 
Egypt,  hast  thou  taken  us  away  to  die  in  the  wilder- 
ness? Did  we  not  say  to  thee,  Let  us  alone  that  we 
may  serve  the  Egyptians? 


CHAPTER  XXII. 
The  Trials  of  Moses. 

And  now  the  wanderings  of  the  poor  Children  of 
Israel  were  to  begin.  All  the  while  they  were  think- 
ing that  at  any  moment  they  might  be  led  into  the 
Promised  Land.  But  instead  of  getting  there  it  turned 
out  that  they  had  to  stay  in  what  was  known  as  "the 
Wilderness"  for  about  forty  years;  so  that  by  the 
end  of  that  time  those  who  had  been  little  children 
when  they  had  crossed  the  Red  Sea,  were  already  in 
middle  life  with  their  own  families  and  their  own 
children;  and  many  men  in  middle  life  who  had 
crossed  the  Red  Sea,  had  grown  old  and  died  there  in 
the  Wilderness  and  were  not  allowed  to  enter  the 
Promised  Land. 

You  may  wonder  why  all  this  should  be,  that  while 
they  were  grown  men  and  women,  they  could  act  like 
children.  It  was  because  they  could  not  be  trusted 
yet,  and  it  would  not  have  been  safe  or  well  if  they 
hiad  been  allowed  to  enter  the  Promised  Land.  A 
person  can  never  be  trusted  or  allowed  to  take  care 
of  himself,  until  he  can  get  over  the  habit  of  rinding 
fault  or  complaining  about  everything  unpleasant  that 
may  happen.  As  long  as  people  go  on  in  this  way 
they  really  do  not  know  how  to  take  care  of  themselves 
and  are  children,  even  if  they  are  otherwise  advanced 
in  years.  I  do  not  know  why  it  is  that  some  people 
always  will  be  finding  fault  instead  of  going  bravely 
ahead  and  making  the  best  of  things,  doing  right,  and 
taking  whatever  happens  in  a  brave  and  manly  or 
womanly  spirit. 

You  know  when  something!  unpleasant  occurs  to 
a  young  child  he  often  just  sits  down  and  cries.  That 

156 


EGYPT  AND  THE  WILDERNESS.  157 

is  the  child's  way.  Although  they  were  grown  peo- 
ple, it  was  just  the  way  the  Children  of  Israel  acted 
while  they  were  in  the  Wilderness.  Even  if  they  were 
to  receive  the  Promised  Land  by  and  by,  yet  they  would 
be  obliged  to  proceed  and  conquer  it  from  the  wicked 
people  who  lived  there.  And  if  they  had  gone  to  the 
Land  of  Canaan  without  being  able  to  endure  trials, 
and  always  wanting  to  sit  down  and  cry  when  anything 
unpleasant  happened,  then  the  wicked  people  of  Canaan 
would  have  driven  them  out  again,  and  the  Children  of 
Israel  would  never  have  found  a  home  there.  Al- 
ready, a  few  days  after  they  had  crossed  the  Red  Sea, 
when  surely  they  had  every  reason  to  feel  trust  in 
Moses  as  their  leader,  they  began  to  find  fault. 

It  was  a  dreary  land  they  had  come  into,  which  we 
call  the  Wilderness,  and  the  first  trouble  they  had  was 
to  find  good  drinking  water.  They  wandered  around 
from  one  place  to  another,  day  after  day,  until  they 
came  to  a  spring  called  Marah.  Then  for  a  moment 
they  were  pleased,  until  they  had  tasted  the  waters 
of  the  spring  and  found  them  bitter. 

This  made  the  people  angry.  Instead  of  being  glad 
that  they  had  been  delivered  from  slavery,  they  began 
to  murmur  against  Moses  and  to  complain,  saying  to 
him:  "What  shall  we  drink?"  You  see  they  never 
seemed  to  think  about  doing  anything  for  themselves, 
but  always  waited  until  Moses  should  come  and  help 
them. 

But  I  am  glad  to  say  that  Moses  knew  what  to  do. 
He  discovered  a  certain  kind  of  tree,  the  branches  of 
which  were  thrown  into  the  waters  and  made  them  all 
right  and  sweet  to  the  taste;  and  so  at  last  the  people 
were  satisfied  and  rested  after  their  long  journey. 
Then  Moses  called  them  together,  assembling  the  vast 
throng  of  six  hundred  thousand  before  him,  and  he 
said  to  them:  "If  you  will  only  hearken  diligently 
and  do  what  is  right  and  keep  the  commandments 
which  have  been  given  to  you  by  the  Lord,  then  all 
will  come  right  in  the  end."  And  as  they  had  plenty 
of  water  to  drink  just  then  and  were  resting  from  their 


158  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

long  journey,  they  felt  quite  pleased  and  promised 
faithfully  to  do  what  was  right  and  to  obey. 

Yet  I  am  afraid  that  poor  Moses  did  not  feel 
quite  sure  of  their  promises.  Some  people  when  they 
have  what  they  want  will  promise  almost  anything; 
but  just  as  soon  as  they  are  hungry  or  disappointed 
again,  they  will  break  their  promises  and  begin  to 
complain. 

By  and  by  they  set  out  once  more  on  their  long 
journey.  And  as  they  went  on  further,  there  was  little 
or  nothing  for  them  to  eat ;  and  they  became  hungry. 
Instead  of  looking  around  everywhere  and  trying  to 
think  for  themselves,  they  began  to  find  fault  again 
and  to  talk  against  Moses  and  Aaron,  saying :  "Would 
that  we  had  died  in  the  land  of  Egypt  when  we  sat 
by  the  flesh  pots  and  did  eat  bread  to  the  full ;  for  ye 
have  brought  us  forth  into  the  Wilderness  to  kill  us 
all  with  hunger." 

As  you  go  on  in  life  you  will  often  hear  about  "sigh- 
ing for  the  flesh  pots  of  Egypt,"  and  you  will  see  from 
this  what  it  means;  how  the  Israelites,  for  instance, 
although  they  knew  that  by  and  by  they  were  to  reach 
the  Promised  Land,  where  everything  would  be  hap- 
pier and  better  for  them,  yet  just  on  account  of  the 
trials  in  their  way  at  the  present  moment,  kept  wishing 
that  they  had  not  started  out,  but  rather  that  they 
had  stayed  back  and  made  the  best  of  all  their  troubles. 
The  food  they  had  received  in  Egypt  was  bad  in  the 
extreme,  prepared  in  the  "flesh  pots,"  as  it  is  said. 
But  just  at  this  moment  it  struck  them  that  it  was 
better  to  have  that  wretched  food  than  nothing  at  all. 

We  keep  wondering  why  they  did  not  look  about 
them,  or  try  to  get  food  for  themselves,  instead  of  al- 
ways laying  the  blame  on-  Moses  and  sighing  for  the 
flesh  pots  of  Egypt.  Yet  perhaps  we  ought  not  to 
blame  the  people  too  much.  They  had  had  a  very 
hard  time  of  it  in  Egypt.  They  had  been  treated  like 
children,  not  allowed  to  have  their  own  way,  but  just 
made  to  work  all  the  while  like  slaves.  So  it  was  nec- 
essary that  they  should  grow  up,  to  learn  their  mistake, 


AND  THE  WILDERNESS. 

quite  as  children  have  to  grow  up  and  find  out  a  great 
deal  from  their  own  experience. 

A  sensible  grown  person  does  not  complain  or  cry 
like  a  child.  Hence  we  take  it  for  granted  that  the 
Israelites  after  a  while  would  learn  to  stop  their  com- 
plaining and  act  like  sensible  men  and  women.  But 
no ;  Moses  had  to  find  food  for  them,  and,  as  good  for- 
tune would  have  it,  there  was  food  enough  of  a  cer- 
tain kind  found  in  the  Wilderness. 

It  seems  that  something  was  found  on  the  leaves 
of  plants  in  the  morning,  looking  a  good  deal  like  dew ; 
but  when  it  became  a  little  harder  it  was  good  to  eat. 
And  this  small,  flaky  thing  was  called  Manna.  There 
was  plenty  of  it  in  the  Wilderness;  and  so  as  a  rule 
the  people  had  enough  to  eat  if  they  would  only  be 
content  with  it.  It  had  to  be  gathered  in  the  early 
morning ;  and  as  it  would  only  keep  a  little  while,  they 
had  to  be  careful  to  provide  themselves  with  enough 
to  last  them  through  each  day. 

The  taste  of  this  Manna  was  something  like  wafers 
made  with  honey,  and  I  fancy  it  must  have  been  very 
sweet.  Sometimes  this  Manna  has  been  called  "bread 
from  heaven,"  because  of  the  peculiar  way  in  which  it 
appeared  in  the  morning,  as  if  it  had  fallen  from  the 
skies. 

By  this  time  we  should  think  that  the  Israelites 
would  surely  have  stopped  their  murmuring,  inasmuch 
as  Moses  and  Aaron  had  found  food  enough  for  them 
in  plenty  in  this  Manna ;  but  as  they  went  on  traveling, 
sometimes  there  would  be  no  water,  and  they  would 
again  cry  out  at  once,  blaming  Moses  and  Aaron  for 
not  taking  care  of  them. 

The  more  I  think  of  it,  the  more  I  feel  that  Moses 
must  have  been  a  brave,  strong  man,  in  order  to  keep 
up  his  courage  in  the  face  of  all  these  complaints. 
When  he  had  been  first  told  by  the  Ruler  of  the  World 
that  he  should  be  the  leader  of  the  Israelites,  he  had 
been  timid,  not  feeling  at  all  sure  that  he  would  be 
strong  enough  to  do  this  work.  But  sometimes  those 
people  who  are  not  perfectly  sure  of  themselves  go 
on  becoming  stronger  and  stronger.  They  do  not 


l6o  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

stand  still,  but  go  ahead  and  do  the  best  they  know 
how.  And  Moses  had  made  up  his  mind  now  that  he, 
too,  was  to  go  ahead  and  do  the  best  he  knew  how, 
and  try  to  see  if  he  could  not  rescue  his  people  from 
the  Egyptians. 

Just  now,  however,  he  was  having  a  pretty  hard  time 
of  it.  He  had  managed  to  get  them  safely  across 
the  Red  Sea;  but  troubles  seemed  to  grow  thick  and 
fast  upon  them.  He  became  tired  of  that  inces- 
sant cry  about  the  "flesh  pots  of  Egypt,"  wondering 
why  it  was  that  the  people  did  not  act  less  like  children 
and  try  to  provide  for  themselves. 

But  as  something  had  to  be  done  now  that  all  the 
people  were  thirsty  again,  he  went  ahead  faithfully 
as  their  leader,  and  at  last  found  a  spring  right  at  the 
edge  of  a  large  rock.  Then  he  called  the  people  to  ap- 
proach; and  they  began  to  draw  near.  He  stood  be- 
fore the  rock  and  drew  the  grasses  away,  and  showed 
them  the  clear,  cold  water.  And  once  more  the  people 
were  ashamed  of  their  complaining. 

You  see,  Moses  had  to  be  a  kind  of  king  over  them, 
and  also  had  to  be  a  leader  and  keep  up  their  spirits, 
and  had  to  think  about  their  health  and  show  them 
how  to  take  care  of  themselves.  Then,  too,  he  had  to 
watch  how  they  were  behaving  and  to  see  that  they 
did  not  fall  into  bad  habits.  He  knew  that  he  was 
leading  them  forward  little  by  little  across  that  Wil- 
derness to  the  Promised  Land. 

But  they  had  worse  troubles,  sometimes,  even  than 
hunger  and  thirst.  There  were  enemies  living  in  that 
Wilderness — wicked  people  who  hated  the  Israelites, 
and  did  not  wish  them  to  pass  through  that  country. 
One  tribe  of  these  people,  for  instance,  were  called 
the  Amalekites,  and  they  were  very  angry  against  the 
Israelites  for  coming  into  that  country;  and  their 
king  came  boldly  forward  and  began  to  harass  the 
travelers,  not  letting  them  go  any  further. 

If  the  Children  of  Israel  had  been  inclined  to  com- 
plain before,  they  were  much  more  inclined  that  way 
now.  But  there  they  were.  They  could  not  turn  back, 
and  they  knew  they  would  have  to  do  something.  All 


*  EGYPT*  AND  THE  WILDERNESS.  l6l 

depended  on  having  them  keep  up  their  courage.  You 
may  like  to  know  what  Moses  did.  He  knew  that 
the  Israelites  would  be  successful  if  they  only  went  on 
fighting  long  enough.  But  as  I  have  said,  they  were 
like  children,  and  just  as  soon  as  they  became  dis- 
couraged they  would  stop  fighting.  And  Moses  climbed 
a  hill  not  far  away  and  stood  on  the  top  and  held  up 
his  hand  so  that  whenever  they  saw  it  they  should  feel 
encouraged  and  go  on  fighting.  But  this  was  no  easy 
thing  to  do,  to  stand  there  hour  after  hour  holding 
up  his  hand.  Now  and  then  it  would  drop  through 
weariness.  Then  at  once  the  Israelites  would  lose 
heart  and  fall  back  and  the  Amalekites  would  strike 
hard,  and  it  would  look  for  a  time  as  if  the  Israelites 
would  all  be  put  to  death.  Once  more  Moses  would 
raise  that  right  hand,  and  stand  there  with  it  raised, 
and  their  courage  would  return  and  they  would  go  on 
fighting  again. 

When  Moses  could  stand  no  longer,  they  brought 
a  stone  from  near  by  and  put  it  under  him;  yet  he 
held  up  his  hand  so  the  people  might  see  it  and  con- 
tinue fighting.  At  last  he  could  hold  out  no  longer. 
His  strength  was  failing,  and  his  hand  dropped.  When 
the  Israelites  saw  this  they  fell  back  again,  and  Amalek 
prevailed.  Just  at  this  time  a  man  named  Hur,  to- 
gether with  Aaron,  went  up  the  hill,  and  they  stayed 
up  his  hands,  the  one  on  the  one  side,  and  the  other  on 
the  other  side,  and  kept  them  there  until  the  sun  had 
set.  And  the  people  of  Israel  won  their  victory 
through  their  trust  in  Moses.  They  had  watched  his 
hand  held  up  there  on  the  hilltop  all  day  long,  and 
they  felt  sure  that  while  he  stayed  there  and  held  it 
up  lacy  were  safe. 

It  seems  that  down  in  the  valley  where  the  battle 
waged,  a  brave  captain  had  been  selected  by  the  name 
of  Joshua;  and  so  we  are  told,  "Joshua,  discomfited 
Amalek  and  his  people." 

This  was  a  good  lesson  for  the  Israelites.  For  the 
first  time  they  had  begun  to  have  some  courage  and 
to  be  able  to  trust  in  themselves  a  little  more,  instead 
of  always  falling  back  on  Moses.  Then,  too,  they 


162  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

had  learned  how  to  fight  in  war;  and  this  was  very 
important;  because  as  they  went  on  in  their  history 
they  had  much  fighting  to  do  before  they  were  able  to 
win  for  themselves  the  Promised  Land. 

You  may  like  to  know  just  how  Moses  and  Aaron 
governed  the  people  of  Israel  at  that  time.  When  the 
people  left  Egypt,  they  had  gone  out  as  a  crowd 
of  men  and  women  together,  each  family  by  itself, 
under  the  two  leaders,  Moses  and  Aaron.  Now,  we 
can  feel  sure  that  there  would  be  any  amount  of  quar- 
reling and  strife  going  on  among  all  those  families, 
and  Moses  would  have  to  try  in  all  sorts  of  ways  to 
keep  them  at  peace  with  one  another. 

For  this  reason,  from  time  to  time,  Moses  set  apart 
a  day  to  act  as  a  judge,  and  the  people  who  had  griev- 
ances would  come  to  him  and  he  would  judge  between 
them.  But  you  must  remember  that  there  were  six 
hundred  thousand  people,  and  this  was  a  great  many. 

I  am  happy  to  say,  however,  that  just  about  this 
time  Moses  met  his  father-in-law,  Jethro.  You  will 
remember  him  as  being  the  father  of  the  woman  whom 
Moses  had  married  in  the  land  of  Midian.  Jethro 
was  a  practical  man;  and  when  he  saw  how  Moses 
sat  to  judge  the  people,  and  how  the  people  stood 
about  Moses  from  morning  until  evening,  Jethro  said : 
"What  is  this  thing  that  thou  doest?  Why  sitteth 
thou  thyself  alone  and  all  the  people  stand  about  thee 
from  morning  until  evening?"  Of  course  Moses 
thought  all  this  ought  to  be  plain  enough.  But  he  had 
great  respect  for  his  wife's  father,  a  much  older  man 
than  himself,  and  he  answered:  "Because  when  the 
people  have  a  matter  they  come  unto  me  and  I  judge 
between  them." 

Then  Jethro  said:  "The  thing  thou  doest  is  not 
good.  Thou  wilt  surely  wear  away,  both  thou  and 
this  people  who  are  with  thee;  for  this  thing  is  too 
heavy  for  thee ;  thou  art  not  able  to  perform  it  thyself 
alone.  Hearken  now  unto  my  voice  and  I  will  give 
thee  counsel.  Thou  shalt  teach  the  people  ordinances 
and  laws,  and  show  them  the  way  wherein  they  must 
walk,  and  the  work  they  must  do.  Moreover,  thou 


EGYPT  AND  THE  WILDERNESS.  163 

shalt  provide  out  of  the  people  able  men,  men  of  truth, 
hating  injustice,  and  place  such  over  them  to  be  rulers 
of  thousands,  and  rulers  of  hundreds,  rulers  of  fifties 
and  rulers  of  tens,  and  they  shall  act  and  judge  for 
the  people  at  all  times ;  and  it  shall  be  whenever  a  very 
important  matter  comes,  that  they  shall  bring  it  unto 
thee;  but  the  small  matters  shall  be  passed  upon  by 
these  other  judges ;  so  it  shall  be  easier  for  thyself,  and 
these  others  shall  bear  the  burdens  with  thee.  If  thou 
shalt  do  this  thing,  then  thou  shalt  be  able  to  hold 
out,  and  all  this  people  shall  go  to  their  place  in 
peace." 

This  was  a  very  practical  idea  on  the  part  of  Jethro, 
and  I  am  quite  sure  Moses  was  pleased  the  moment 
it  was  mentioned.  He  had  never  been  a  ruler  him- 
self, having  been  left  for  the  most  part  alone  with  his 
family  for  a  great  many  years.  Hence  he  had  to  find  out 
little  by  little  how  to  become  a  leader.  At  once  he 
chose  out  able  men  from  among  the  people  of  Israel, 
and  made  them  heads  or  judges  over  the  people,  rulers 
of  thousands,  rulers  of  hundreds,  rulers  of  fifties  and 
rulers  of  tens. 

In  this  way,  for  the  first  time,  the  Children  of  Israel 
began  to  have  a  government  of  their  own.  People 
cannot  live  together  for  a  great  while  and  prosper  un- 
less they^have  some  sort  of  government;  and  this  was 
a  very  wise  piece  of  advice  which  was  given  by  Jethro. 
Moses  must  have  been  pleased,  and  I  am  sure 
everything  went  much  better  after  that  with  the  Chil- 
dren of  Israel. 

To  THE  TEACHER:  This  is  a  longer  chapter,  and 
could  be  divided  into  two  parts.  Several  of  the  inci- 
dents are  classic  and  need  to  be  fixed  firmly  in  the 
minds  of  the  children.  Write  on  the  blackboard  the 
words  or  phrases,  "Manna,"  "Waters  of  Marah," 
"Flesh  pots  of  Egypt,"  "Holding  up  the  hands  of 
Moses."  Have  the  children  explain  what  these  mean, 
repeating  them  as  they  read  over  the  story.  Make  a 
good  deal  of  the  phrase,  "Flesh  pots  of  Egypt,"  and 


164  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

show  how  it  has  become  typical  of  fault-finding  and 
dissatisfaction.  Dwell  further  on  the  trials  of  Moses 
and  what  he  had  to  endure.  Point  out  how  much 
patience  grown  people  have  to  show  to  children  and 
how  hard  this  must  be  sometimes.  Keep  harping  on 
the  "childishness"  of  the  fault-finding  habit.  Do  not 
overlook  the  last  incident  in  the  establishment  of  a 
government  at  the  suggestion  of  Jethro,  and  the  im- 
portance of  government.  Children  may  grasp  this 
point  in  a  general  way. 

MEMORY  VERSE. — Would  that  we  had  died  in  the 
land  of  Egypt  when  we  sat  by  the  flesh  pots  and  did  eat 
bread  to  the  full;  for  ye  have  brought  us  forth  in  the 
Wilderness  to  kill  us  all  with  hunger. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 
The  Giving  of  the  Ten  Commandments. 

The  Children  of  Israel  had  been  wandering  now  for 
quite  a  long  time  in  the  Wilderness.  It  would  seem 
as  if  they  had  begun  by  this  time  to  learn  a  little  pa- 
tience. Then,  too,  as  you  remember,  they  now  had 
some  sort  of  government,  with  rulers  or  judges  over 
them.  But  the  most  important  event  in  their  history 
had  not  yet  come,  and  you  will  want  to  know  about  it. 

From  time  to  time  I  have  told  you  how  the  Ruler 
of  the  World  had  said  things  to  one  or  another  of  the 
people,  men  like  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob,  or  Moses, 
telling  them  what  to  do.  But  he  had  never  given  them 
a  set  of  rules  which  they  were  to  obey.  He  had  said 
"do  this"  or  "do  that,"  or  "do  something  else";  but 
the  time  had  come  when  the  people  needed  to  have 
a  set  of  rules  telling  them  how  they  should  behave,  and 
what  they  ought  to  do  or  ought  not  to  do. 

In  the  Wilderness  there  is  one  mountain  about  which 
a  great  deal  has  been  told.  It  rises  thousands  of  feet 
into  the  air;  and  the  rock  has  a  reddish  tinge,  so  that 
people  can  see  it  a  long  distance  away.  I  am  not  sure 
that  there  is  another  mountain  in  the  world  like  this 
Mount  Sinai.  There  had  always  been  something 
strange  and  mysterious  about  it  to  the  people  who  had 
lived  in  the  Wilderness  before  the  Israelites  had  come 
there.  And  so  when  the  Israelites  saw  this  huge  mass 
of  rock  looming  up  before  them  in  all  its  majesty, 
something  took  place  which  they  remembered  all  the 
rest  of  their  lives. 

They  did  not  go  quite  close  to  the  mountain,  as  they 
felt  a  little  afraid  of  it.  Somehow  it  struck  them  that 
this  mountain  must  belong  peculiarly  to  the  Lord,  as 

165 


l66  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

if  in  a  certain  way  the  mighty  Ruler  of  the  World, 
dwelt  there  upon  its  top.  The  country  round  about 
was  called  the  Wilderness  of  Sinai;  and  the  people  of 
Israel  camped  there  before  the  mountain. 

Then  the  Lord  told  Moses  that  the  people  were  to 
prepare  themselves  and  to  wait,  and  that  on  the  third 
day  he  would  come  to  them  in  a  cloud  on  Mount  Sinai, 
saying:  "Thou  shalt  set  bounds  to  the  people  round 
about,  telling  them  to  take  heed  to  themselves  that 
they  go  not  up  into  the  mountain  or  touch  the  border 
of  it;  whosoever  toucheth  the  mount  shall  be  put  to 
death,  whether  it  be  beast  or  man ;  but  when  the  trum- 
pet soundeth  long,  they  shall  all  approach  the  mount." 
And  Moses  told  the  people  to  be  ready  against  the 
third  day.  And  it  came  to  pass  on  the  third  day  when 
it  was  morning  that  there  were  thunders  and  lightnings 
and  a  thick  cloud  upon  the  mount,  and  the  voice  of  the 
trumpet  exceeding  loud,  so  that  all  the  people  in  the 
camp  trembled.  And  Mount  Sinai  was  altogether  in 
a  smoke,  and  the  smoke  thereof  ascended  as  the  smoke 
of  a  furnace,  and  the  whole  mount  quaked  greatly. 

And  the  Lord  called  Moses  to  the  top  of  the  moun- 
tain, and  Moses  went  up ;  and  while  he  was  alone  there 
with  the  Lord  he  was  given  two  tables  of  stone,  on 
which  were  written  the  Ten  Commandments.  No  one 
of  course  could  see  Moses.  The  whole  mountain  was 
covered  with  a  great,  thick,  black  cloud.  All  the  peo- 
ple knew  was,  that  Moses  had  entered  into  that  cloud. 

You  may  like  to  know  what  those  Ten  Command- 
ments were.  The  first  one  was  that  the  people  should 
worship  the  Lord ;  the  second,  that  they  should  never 
make  any  image  of  the  Lord,  the  Ruler  of  the  World, 
or  worship  images  and  become  idolaters  like  the  other 
wicked  people  around  them;  the  third  was  that  they 
should  not  be  profane,  or  take  the  Lord's  name  in 
vain.  This,  you  see,  was  a  commandment  against 
swearing.  The  fourth  was  that  they  should  keep  holy 
the  Sabbath  Day;  the  fifth,  that  the  people  should 
honor  their  fathers  and  mothers;  the  sixth,  that  they 
should  do  no  murder — although  it  may  puzzle  us  a 
little  why  people  should  ever  need  to  have  a  Command- 


EGYPT  AND  THE  WILDERNESS.  167 

ment  like  that;  the  seventh  was  against  committing 
adultery,  meaning  by  this  that  husbands  and  wives 
should  be  true  to  each  other;  the  eighth  was,  "Thou 
shalt  not  steal."  I  am  sure  everybody  understood  that, 
and  I  very  much  fear  that  in  those  days  they  needed 
that  Commandment.  The  ninth  was  the  Commandment 
against  lying,  "Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness 
against  thy  neighbor ;"  and  the  tenth  and  the  last  was 
against  covetousness :  "Thou  shalt  not  covet  *  *  *" 
meaning  that  people  should  not  want  things  that  be- 
long to  others,  because  by  and  by,  if  one  goes  on  think- 
ing about  how  much  one  wants  such  things,  one  may 
be  ready  to  go  and  take  them;  so  that  in  this  way, 
coveting  leads  to  stealing. 

These  were  the  Ten  Commandments,  the  rules,  as 
I  have  told  you,  that  the  Israelites  were  to  obey.  A 
part  of  these  rules  dealt  with  the  way  they  should  act 
toward  each  other,  and  a  part  of  them  dealt  with  the 
way  they  should  act  toward  the  Lord  over  All. 

In  the  meantime,  there  was  Moses  up  there  on  the 
mountain  with  those  two  tables  of  stone  on  which 
were  written  the  Ten  Commandments.  The  people 
had  not  seen  them,  and  as  yet  knew  nothing  about 
them.  But,  Moses  was  up  there  quite  a  long  while, 
and  the  people  did  not  know  what  to  make  of  it.  Day 
after  day  passed,  and  there  was  that  awful  cloud  over- 
hanging the  mountain,  and  they  saw  nothing  of  Moses. 

By  and  by  they  began  to  think  that  Moses  would 
never  come  back,  that  perhaps  the  Lord,  the  Ruler  of 
the  World,  had  been  cheating  them  and  did  not  care 
about  them  at  all.  And  then  they  did  something  very 
bad  indeed.  They  were  like  frightened  children  left 
alone;  they  did  not  know  how  to  act  for  themselves, 
and  they  had  not  learned  patience. 

One  cannot  help  thinking  all  the  while  how  unfit 
they  would  have  been  to  have  taken  possession  of  the 
Promised  Land.  But  be  that  as  it  may,  when,  after 
waiting  for  some  time  Moses  did  not  return  to  them, 
they  made  up  their  minds  that  perhaps  the  true  way 
was  to  worship  some  other  being  in  place  of  the  Lord 
over  All,  and  they  fell  into  what  is  called  idolatry,  or 


l68  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

worship  of  images  instead  of  the  Lord.  This  was 
something  that  the  Lord  had  feared  might  happen, 
knowing  how  ignorant  people  are  inclined  to  do  this ; 
and  so  he  had  a  commandment  against  it  engraved  on 
the  two  tables  of  stone. 

As  Moses  did  not  come  down,  they  went  to  Aaron 
and  told  him  what  they  wanted ;  and  I  am  very  sorry 
to  say  that  Aaron  lost  his  good  sense  and  judgment  al- 
together. This  is  what  they  said  to  Aaron:  "Up; 
make  us  gods  which  shall  go  before  us;  as  for  this 
Moses,  the  man  that  brought  us  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt,  we  know  not  what  has  become  of  him." 

Aaron  ought  to  have  rebuked  them,  telling  them 
how  bad  they  were  for  thinking  about  such  a  thing, 
and  refusing  even  to  listen  to  them.  But  no;  he  was 
afraid  lest  they  might  do  something  to  him  unless  he 
granted  their  wishes,  although  he  really  knew  better. 
And  this  is  what  he  said  to  them :  "Break  off  the 
golden  earrings  which  are  in  the  ears  of  your  wives, 
of  your  sons  and  of  your  daughters,  and  bring  them 
unto  me."  And  all  the  people  broke  off  their  golden 
earrings  which  were  in  their  ears  and  brought  them 
unto  Aaron.  And  what  do  you  suppose  he  did  ?  Why, 
he  took  all  that  gold,  and  with  tools  made  an  image 
of  a  calf  and  set  that  calf  of  gold  before  them  and 
said :  "This  is  what  brought  thee  out  of  Egypt."  Then 
Aaron  built  an  altar  before  it,  and  the  people  actually 
made  sacrifices  on  the  altar  to  this  golden  calf.  And 
after  making  their  offerings  they  had  a  great  feast, 
and  they  sat  down  to  eat  and  to  drink,  and  rose  up  to 
play. 

Moses  of  course  knew  nothing  about  these  happen- 
ings. He  had  been  waiting  quietly  with  the  Lord  up 
on  Mount  Sinai,  receiving  the  Ten  Commandments 
on  the  two  tables  of  stone.  Now  the  Lord  told  Moses 
to  go  down  at  once  bearing  the  two  tables  of  stone  in 
his  hand.  Then,  just  as  Moses  came  to  the  edge  of 
the  cloud  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  he  heard  a  great 
noise  and  shouting.  And  he  said  to  himself :  "This  is 
not  the  voice  of  them  that  shout  for  mastery;  neither 
is  it  the  voice  of  them  that  cry  for  being  overcome, 


EGYPT  AND  THE  WILDERNESS.  169 

but  the  voice  of  them  that  sing,  do  I  hear."  Then,  as 
he  came  near  the  camp  and  saw  the  golden  calf,  he 
knew  at  once  that  the  people  had  forgotten  him  en- 
tirely and  thought  no  more  about  him,  having  given 
him  up  as  a  leader.  And  he  was  furiously  angry.  All 
of  a  sudden  he  lifted  up  the  two  tables  of  stone  which 
were  in  his  hands  and  broke  them  in  pieces  beneath  the 
mountain. 

We  cannot  altogether  blame  Moses  for  being  an- 
gered at  what  he  saw;  although  the  impulsive  act  on 
his  part  was  wrong.  He  had  received  those  tables  from 
the  Lord,  and  it  was  his  duty  to  have  given  them  to  the 
people.  I  do  not  think  he  was  ever  forgiven  for  what 
he  did  in  his  anger.  But  he  knew  the  people  must  be 
punished,  and  so  he  took  the  golden  calf  which  they 
had  made  and  ground  it  up  into  a  powder  and  strewed 
it  upon  the  waters  and  made  the  people  drink  of  it. 
And  Moses  said  unto  Aaron :  "What  did  these  people 
do  to  thee  that  thou  hast  brought  so  great  a  sin  upon 
them?"  Then  Aaron  of  course  felt  ashamed.  He 
knew  he  deserved  punishment  and  his  conscience  trou- 
bled him  very  much. 

But  he  tried  to  excuse  himself,  and  said  to  Moses : 
"Let  not  thy  anger  wax  hot ;  thou  knowest  the  people 
and  how  they  are  set  on  mischief,  and  they  said,  Make 
us  a  god  which  shall  go  before  us;  for  as  for  this 
Moses,  the  man  that  brought  us  up  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt,  we  know  not  what  is  become  of  him.  And  I 
said  unto  them,  Whosoever  hath  any  gold,  let  them 
break  it  off.  So  they  gave  it  to  me  and  I  cast  it  into 
the  fire  and  there  came  out  this  golden  calf." 

Moses  decided  that  they  should  be  punished  in  a 
way  they  would  never  forget.  He  was  the  ruler,  and 
what  he  said  was  law.  He  commanded  that  three  thou- 
sand of  the  people  should  be  put  to  death  because  of 
this  wickedness.  He  told  the  people,  "Ye  have  sinned 
a  great  sin.  Now  I  will  go  up  unto  the  Lord  and  make 
a  confession  unto  him  of  what  you  have  done."  Then 
the  Lord  told  Moses  to  hew  two  pieces  of  stone  like 
unto  the  two  first,  and  to  come  to  him  at  the  top  of  the 
mountain.  This  is  what  was  said  to  Moses :  "Be 


I7O  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

ready  in  the  morning  and  go  up  to  Mount  Sinai  and 
present  thyself  there  at  the  top  of  the  mountain,  and 
neither  let  any  man  be  seen  throughout  all  the  moun- 
tain." 

Then  Moses  he  wed  two  tables  of  stone  like  unto  the 
first,  and  rose  up  early  in  the  morning  and  went  up  on 
Mount  Sinai  and  took  in  his  hand  the  two  tables  of 
stone.  And  Moses  up  there  on  top  of  the  mountain 
wrote  down  again  on  those  two  tables  the  words  of 
the  Ten  Commandments.  And  it  came  to  pass,  as 
we  are  told,  when  Moses  came  from  the  mountain  with 
the  two  tables  of  the  Ten  Commandments  in  his  hand, 
as  he  came  down  from  the  mountain  he  knew  not 
that  the  skin  of  his  face  shone.  As  he  drew  near  to 
the  camp,  Aaron  and  all  the  Children  of  Israel  saw  Mo- 
ses, noticing  how  the  skin  of  his  face  shone,  and  they 
were  afraid  to  go  near  him.  And  Moses  called  to  him- 
self Aaron  and  all  the  rulers,  and  he  spoke  to  them 
and  gave  them  the  two  tables  of  stone  on  which  were 
written  the  Ten  Commandments.  These  were  to  be 
taught  therefore  as  rules  of  life  to  the  Children  of 
Israel.  And  the  Lord  told  them  that  if  they  would 
keep  these  Commandments  he  would  make  sure  that 
they  should  come  to  the  Promised  Land. 

To  THE  TEACHER:  In  taking  up  this  lesson  of  the 
Ten  Commandments  it  will  be  best  to  connect  one  spe- 
cial point  in  some  way  with  each  Commandment,  so 
that  the  children  shall  remember  all  their  lives  what 
each  numbered  part  of  the  Decalogue  is  about.  For 
instance,  they  can  fix  in  mind  how  the  Fourth  Com- 
mandment has  to  do  with  honoring  one's  father  and 
mother,  or  how  the  second  one  is  against  image  wor- 
ship or  idolatry,  and  so  with  the  others.  There  might 
be  some  further  talk  about  the  last  four  of  the  Com- 
mandments. If  the  teacher  or  head  of  the  school 
using  these  lessons  prefers,  he  may,  of  course,  intro- 
duce the  Decalogue  exactly  as  it  stands  in  the  Bible  in 
the  place  of  the  wording  in  this  chapter.  The  lesson 
is  of  course  a  most  important  one  and  should  be  re- 


EGYPT  AND  THE  WILDERNESS.  171 

viewed  again  and  again.  Show  a  picture  of  Mount 
Sinai,  perhaps  also  of  Egyptian  idols,  so  as  to  illus- 
trate what  idolatry  means.  But  it  would  be  well  not 
to  go  too  far  in  the  subject  of  idolatry,  as  it  might 
soon  lead  into  metaphysics  and  do  more  harm  than 
good  to  the  minds  of  young  children. 

MEMORY  VERSE  :    What  did  these  people  do  to  theet 
that  thou  hast  brought  so  great  a  sin  upon  them? 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 
The  Ark  and  the  Tabernacle. 

All  this  time,  while  they  had  been  wandering  around 
there  in  the  Wilderness  until  they  came  to  Mount 
Sinai,  they  had  nothing!  with  them  which  in  some  way 
should  make  them  think  always  of  the  Lord  Over  All. 
They  were  positively  sure  that  it  was  he  who  had 
brought  them  out  of  Egypt  and  led  them  into  the  Wil- 
derness. Now  at  last,  after  they  had  received  those 
two  tables  of  stone  containing  the  Ten  Command- 
ments, they  felt  that  they  must  do  something  to  show 
their  willingness  to  obey.  Moses  thought  that  they 
should  have  something  for  the  purpose,  which  the 
people  might  carry  around  with  them,  always  remind- 
ing them  of  the  Great  Ruler.  And  I  will  tell  you 
what  was  done. 

Moses  decided  to  make  an  "ark;"  not  the  kind  that 
Noah  made,  but  a  sort  of  small  box  or  trunk,  as  you 
might  think  of  it,  made  in  a  beautiful  way  from  the 
rarest  kind  of  wood.  It  was  overlaid  with  pure  gold, 
within  and  without,  and  it  had  two  gold  rings  on  each 
side.  It  was  made  of  acacia  wood,  and  must  have 
been  something  very  striking  to  look  at.  We  hear  so 
much  about  this  ark  in  the  history  of  the  Children  of 
Israel  that  you  may  like  to  know  just  the  words  we  are 
told  that  the  Ruler  of  the  World  used,  when  he  in- 
structed Moses  how  to  make  it. 

This  is  what  he  said:  "And  thou  shalt  make  an 
ark  of  acacia  wood;  two  cubits  and  a  half  shall  be 
the  length  of  it  and  a  cubit  and  a  half  shall  be  the 
breadth  thereof,  and  a  cubit  and  a  half  the  height  there- 
of. And  thou  shalt  overlay  it  with  pure  gold,  within 
and  without,  and  shalt  make  upon  it  a  crown  of  gold 

172 


EGYPT  AND  THE  WILDERNESS.  173 

round  about.  And  thou  shalt  cast  four  rings  of  gold 
for  it  and  shalt  put  them  in  the  four  feet  threeof, 
and  two  rings  shall  be  on  the  one  side  and  two  rings 
shall  be  on  the  other  side.  And  thou  shalt  make 
staves  of  acacia  wood  and  overlay  them  with  gold, 
and  thou  shalt  put  the  staves  into  the  rings  that  the 
ark  may  be  borne  by  them,  and  the  staves  shall  not 
be  taken  from  it." 

Then,  when  the  ark  had  been  made  according  to 
instructions,  what  do  you  suppose  Moses  did  with  it? 
Why,  he  put  into  it  those  two  tables  of  stone  on 
which  the  Ten  Commandments  were  written.  We 
should  be  sure  for  this  reason  that  the  Israelites  would 
care  a  great  deal  about  this  ark,  now  that  it  held 
those  two  precious  tables  of  stone.  Then  besides  this 
ark,  Moses  felt  that  there  ought  to  be  a  sort  of  Sanc- 
tuary or  a  kind  of  temple  made,  where  the  ark  should 
remain,  and  which  should  be  looked  upon  as  belong- 
ing to  the  Lord.  This  is  the  same  idea  I  told  you 
about  when  Adam  and  Eve  built  an  altar  after  they 
had  been  cast  out  of  Eden.  And  along  with  this 
sanctuary  or  temple,  there  was  to  be  an  altar  on  which 
offerings  might  be  made  by  the  people. 

Now  Moses  felt  that  his  tabernacle  or  sanctuary 
of  worship  should  be  made  of  everything  most  pre- 
cious, and  so  he  called  upon  the  people,  asking  them 
to  make  an  offering.  The  Ruler  of  the  World  had  told 
them  to  do  this,  saying:  They  shall  make  for  me  an 
offering,  every  man  whose  heart  maketh  him  willing, 
and  this  offering  which  thou  shalt  take  from  them 
shall  be  of  gold  and  silver  and  brass,  and  blue  and 
purple  and  scarlet,  and  fine  linen,  and  goat's  hair  and 
rams'  skins  dyed  red,  and  acacia  wood ;  and  oil  for  the 
light  and  spices  for  the  oil ;  and  onyx  stones  and  stones 
to  be  set.  And  out  of  all  these  things,  let  them  make 
me  a  sanctuary." 

And  so  they  set  to  work  to  make  this  sanctuary. 
But  you  see  it  could  not  be  like  a  church  or  a  temple 
such  as  we  should  think  of  nowadays,  because  it  could 
not  be  kept  in  one  place.  The  Israelites  were  wan- 
dering round  about  there  in  the  Wilderness,  and  they 


174  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

would  have  to  carry  this  ark  or  sanctuary  with  them. 
Hence  they  kept  it  in  a  tent,  inasmuch  as  they  had  to 
live  in  tents  in  those  days.  These  tents  would  be  car- 
ried with  them,  and  the  one  containing  the  ark  would 
be  the  church  or  temple. 

When  all  this  was  done,  of  course  the  people  were 
pleased.  They  felt  that  now  they  had  something  with 
them  which  should  always  remind  them  of  their  Great 
Ruler,  and  how  good  he  had  been  to  them  in  bring- 
ing them  up  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt  and  setting 
them  free  from  their  slavery.  We  are  told  besides, 
that  a  beautiful  cloud  used  to  rest  right  over  the  tent 
where  the  ark  and  the  tabernacle  were  placed.  When 
the  people  were  not  journeying,  but  staying  in  one 
place,  then  the  cloud  would  rest  quietly  over  the  tent ; 
and  when  the  time  came  for  the  people  to  go  in  their 
travels,  the  cloud  would  rise,  we  are  told,  and  go  be- 
fore them,  and  they  would  follow  it  from  place  to 
place.  It  is  also  stated  that  in  the  night  time  this 
cloud  assumed  the  appearance  of  a  beautiful  light  or 
fire;  hence  sometimes  we  talk  nowadays  about  the 
"pillar  of  cloud  by  day  and  the  pillar  of  fire  by  night," 
which  was  supposed  to  go  before  the  Children  of 
Israel  and  show  them  the  way. 

All  this  happened  a  long,  long  while  ago,  just  how 
long  I  cannot  say.  But  we  know  that  the  Children 
of  Israel  had  to  wander  a  great  while  in  the  Wil- 
derness, waiting  impatiently  for  the  day  when  they 
might  cross  the  River  Jordan  and  enter  the  Promised 
Land. 

To  THE  TEACHER:  The  important  significance  of 
this  lesson  is  to  fix  in  the  memory  of  the  children  the 
words  "Ark"  and  "Pillar  of  Cloud,"  because  these 
terms  have  been  important  in  all  the  literature  of 
Christendom.  The  children  must  remember  what 
such  terms  stand  for  and  how  they  arose.  Something 
could  be  said  of  the  right  spirit  with  which  the  people 
brought  of  their  "best,"  with  which  to  make  the  "Ark" 
and  to  decorate  it.  If  deemed  advisable,  this  and  the 
following  chapter  could  be  treated  as  one  lesson. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 
The  Sin  of  Moses. 

We  must  speak  now  of  something  which  was  very 
sad  in  the  life  of  Moses.  He  had  gone  on  for  a  long 
while,  as  you  remember,  doing  the  best  he  knew  how, 
leading  the  people  out  of  Egypt,  and  guiding  them 
from  place  to  place  through  the  Wilderness. 

But  while  Moses  had  been  a  good  man,  nevertheless 
there  had  been  a  certain  weakness  about  him,  so  that 
we  can  never  think  of  him  as  having  been  quite  perfect. 

You  remember  that  when  he  met  the  Lord  in  the 
fields  while  he  was  tending  the  flocks  of  his  father-in- 
law  in  Midian,  and  had  been  told  to  go  to  the  king  of 
Egypt,  asking  to  have  the  Children  of  Israel  set  free, 
how  Moses  was  timid  and  did  not  quite  want  to  do  at 
once  .as  he  was  commanded  to  do.  By  and  by,  of  course, 
his  courage  came,  and  he  went  along  with  Aaron.  But 
at  that  time  I  think  that  we  could  not  help  feeling  that 
there  was  something  not  quite  right  with  Moses,  mak- 
ing us  fear  lest  by  and  by  he  might  commit  mistakes 
and  do  something  he  would  have  to  regret  later  on. 
And  this  did  happen  now  in  the  Wilderness.  Moses 
forgot  himself  and  did  wrong,  so  that  he  had  to  be  pun- 
ished for  it,  and  the  punishment  was  very  severe  indeed. 
For  my  own  part,  I  am  certain  that  if  he  had  done  right 
and  shown  the  right  spirit  when  he  had  been  told  to 
go  to  the  King  of  Egypt  and  ask  for  the  freedom  of 
the  Israelites,  that  this  later  mistake  on  the  part  of 
Moses  would  never  have  happened.  People  who  are 
too  timid  at  one  time  may  by  and  by  act  just  the  other 
way  and  be  too  bold  at  another  time. 

You  know  that  when  Moses  had  been  called  the  first 
time,  he  had  been  timid.  He  had  not  shown  himself  at 

175 


1/6  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

once  brave  and  fearless.  Now  he  acted  too  boldly  and 
was  to  be  severely  punished  for  it. 

It  seems  that  once  more  the  Children  of  Israel  be- 
came very  selfish  and  impatient.  They  had  plenty  of 
food  to  eat  in  the  manna  I  have  told  you  about;  but 
sometimes  in  their  wanderings  they  did  not  have 
enough  water,  and  at  one  time  they  had  been  travel- 
ing quite  a  long  while  and  had  grown  very  thirsty. 

Then  what  do  you  suppose  the  people  did?  "Began 
to  talk  about  the  fleshpots  of  Egypt,"  you  say?  Yes, 
exactly.  You  know  now  how  the  Israelites  would  act 
like  children  when  they  grew  impatient.  Well,  they 
began  to  talk  again  in  the  same  old  way.  This  is  what 
they  said  to  Moses :  "Would  to  the  Lord  that  we  had 
died  when  our  brethren  died  in  Egypt.  Why  hast  thou 
brought  us  into  the  Wilderness  that  we  should  die  here 
with  thirst  ?  Wherefore  hast  thou  brought  us  into  this 
evil  place  ?  It  is  no  place  of  figs  and  vines  and  pome- 
granates ;  neither  is  there  any  water  to  drink." 

You  notice  what  a  way  people  have  of  exaggerating 
their  troubles.  They  really  had  enough  to  eat  in  the 
manna  they  had  found  in  that  country.  What  they 
were  crying  for  now  was  good  drinking  water.  And 
just  because  they  could  not  get  it  they  blamed  Moses 
for  it,  and  also  because  he  did  not  give  them  nice  dishes 
of  the  best  kind  of  food  or  the  richest  fruits. 

Poor  Moses!  Surely  we  could  feel  sorry  for  him. 
The  people  were  never  satisfied.  He,  too,  must  have 
been  thirsty  like  the  rest  of  them.  But  he  had  sense 
enough  not  to  complain  and  sigh  for  grapes  and  pome- 
granates and  all  sorts  of  nice  things  to  eat,  when  he 
could  get  manna  there.  But  for  once  he  lost  all  pa- 
tience. He  felt  that  he  was  much  superior  to  the  rest 
of  them,  and  had  behaved  himself  much  better  than 
they  had,  having  acted  in  a  brave,  bold  spirit,  while 
they  had  behaved  in  a  very  -cowardly  way. 

He  went  ahead  some  distance,  looking  about,  and  at 
last  found  a  fine  large  spring  of  water  at  the  edge  of  a 
great  rock.  Then  he  made  up  his  mind  that  he  would 
give  the  people  a  scolding,  now  that  he  had  found  the 
water  for  them.  And  so  he  called  them  to  him,  as  many 


EGYPT  AND  THE  WILDERNESS.  177 

as  could  hear  his  voice ;  and  thousands  gathered  about 
the  rock.  They  did  not  know  the  spring  of  water  was 
there.  And  there  stood  Moses,  his  rod  in  his  hand. 
Then  he  cried  out,  speaking  as  if  he  were  the  Lord 
himself :  "Hear,  now,  ye  rebels !  Shall  we  bring  you 
forth  water  out  of  this  rock  ?" 

Oh,  if  Moses  had  never  spoken  in  that  way.  It  cost 
him  dear,  because  it  was  for  those  words  that  he  was 
to  be  punished.  You  see,  in  the  way  he  spoke  in  using 
the  word  "we,"  he  talked  just  as  if  it  were  the  Lord 
himself  speaking.  He  had  placed  himself  as  being  as 
good  or  as  great  as  the  Lord  Over  All.  Although  he 
had  done  as  nearly  right  as  he  knew  how,  yet  he  was 
not  what  we  should  have  called  perfect.  And  this  was 
a  display  of  pride.  Moses  had  been  brave  and  true  in 
many  ways,  and  had  certainly  put  up  with  a  great  deal. 
But  he  had  not  been  so  true  and  so  brave  and  so  cour- 
ageous as  to  make  it  right  for  him  to  think  of  himself 
as  being  quite  perfect.  At  any  rate,  when  he  had  said 
those  words  he  smote  the  rock  with  his  rod,  the 
grasses  were  thrust  aside  and  there  was  plenty  of 
water. 

But  even  as  Moses  did  this,  I  think  there  must  have 
been  a  new  look  on  his  face,  a  troubled  look,  as  if  his 
consc/ence  began  to  worry  him.  He  had  no  sooner 
uttered  those  words  than  he  felt  he  had  done  wrong. 
He  walked  away  from  the  spring,  leaving  the  people 
there  quenching  their  thirst.  But  as  for  himself  he 
had  no  desire  to  drink.  He  was  too  unhappy.  He 
knew  he  deserved  punishing,  and  he  felt  that  punish- 
ment would  soon  come. 

And  it  did  come — an  awful  punishment,  such  as 
he  had  never  dreamed  of.  The  Great  Ruler  told  him 
plainly  of  the  wrong  he  had  been  guilty  of,  although 
Moses  knew  in  his  own  heart  what  he  had  done. 
Because  of  this  wrong  act  of  pride  and  boastfulness 
he  was  never  to  be  allowed  to  enter  the  Promised 
Land. 

Just  think  what  that  meant  to  Moses.  He  had 
thought  of  it  by  day  and  dreamed  of  it  by  night. 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

Never  to  enter  the  Promised  Land!  How  his  heart 
sank  within  him.  Even  as  a  boy  I  fancy  his  mother 
had  told  him  of  the  promise  made  to  Abraham,  Isaac 
and  Jacob,  before  the  time  when  he  went  to  live  as 
the  son  of  the  Princess  in  the  palace  of  the  king  of 
Egypt.  And  he  had  thought  how  after  all  his  wan- 
derings in  that  Wilderness,  by  and  by  there  would 
come  an  end  to  his  troubles  and  he  would  be  able 
to  lead  the  people  across  the  River  Jordan  into  the 
Land  of  Canaan.  And  now  because  of  this  pride  and 
boastfulness  he  was  to  be  punished  in  this  awful  way. 
He  was  to  go  on  for  years  leading  the  people  about 
until  they  should  come  in  sight  of  the  Jordan ;  and  after 
all  his  labors,  he  was  to  die  there  alone  in  the  Wilder- 
ness, and  not  share  in  the  happiness  that  was  in  store 
for  the  rest. 

It  makes  us  full  of  sorrow  for  poor  Moses,  although 
we  feel  that  he  deserved  to  be  punished ;  because  when 
people  set  themselves  up  as  being  perfect,  it  is  nothing 
but  pride;  and  pride  generally  has  a  fall.  As  soon 
as  they  do  this,  they  never  seem  to  grow  any  better, 
but  stay  right  where  they  are,  instead  of  going  on 
improving  themselves. 

The  punishment  had  come,  and  Moses  had  to  make 
the  best  of  it.  And  I  am  glad  to  say  that  afterwards 
he  usually  acted  in  a  brave,  true  spirit.  He  was  never 
too  bold  again,  neither  was  he  timid.  He  went  on 
like  a  true  leader  guiding  the  children  of  Israel  from 
place  to  place  in  the  Wilderness,  trying  to  make  them 
better  people,  and  preparing  them  for  the  time  when 
they  should  enter  the  Promised  Land. 

To  THE  TEACHER:  A  great  deal  might  be  made 
out  of  this  lesson  by  proper  treatment.  It  could  be 
emphasized  how  even  the  best  and  strongest  people 
need  to  be  on  their  guard  lest  they  suddenly  fall  into 
temptation.  Tell  the  children  how  easy  it  is  for  a 
person  who  is  a  little  superior  in  one  respect  to  those 
around  him,  to  begin  to  feel  himself  superior  in  all 
respects,  or  to  think  himself  perfect.  Point  out  the 


EGVPT  AND  THE  WILDERNESS.  179 

utter  folly  of  such  pride  and  how  it  makes  a  person 
weak  instead  of  strong.  Explain  that  the  collapse  or 
fall  under  such  circumstances  is  liable  to  come  sud- 
denly or  unexpectedly;  and  then  follow  the  shame 
and  humiliation.  Arouse  a  sense  of  pity  for  Moses 
and  dwell  on  the  sad  features  of  his  awful  disappoint- 
ment 


• 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 
Hearing  the  Promised  Land. 

You  may  grow  a  little  tired  of  hearing  about  the 
murmurings  of  the  Israelites;  but  you  see  you  are 
finding  out  how  the  people  learned  to  do  better,  and 
how  they  began  in  the  complaining  way  I  have  told 
you  about,  before  they  finally  came  to  have  confi- 
dence in  themselves.  And  so  I  must  tell  you  of  some 
other  experiences  which  the  children  of  Israel  had,  be- 
cause of  their  complaining  or  fault-finding  there  in 
the  Wilderness. 

It  was  owing  to  the  same  old  trouble  about  what 
they  had  to  eat  and  drink.  They  never  would  be  con- 
tent. Every  now  and  then  they  would  mourn  the 
loss  of  the  "flesh  pots  of  Egypt,"  and  begin  to  mur- 
mur and  wish  they  had  some  nicer  kind  of  food. 
There  was  the  manna  in  plenty,  as  I  have  said,  and 
it  was  wholesome ;  but  they  wished  for  something  bet- 
ter. If  they  had  plenty  of  water  to  drink,  then  they 
would  grow  angry  because  they  did  not  have  some 
nicer  kind  of  food.  Or  if  they  had  plenty  of  food,  they 
would  complain  because  they  did  not  have  enough 
water.  At  one  time  they  made  so  much  trouble  about 
the  food  that  they  were  sadly  punished  for  it  all. 

The  talk  was  of  the  old  kind,  as  you  know.  This 
is  what  they  said  to  Moses :  "Who  shall  give  us  flesh 
to  eat?  We  remember  the  fish  of  which  we  did  eat 
in  Egypt,  the  cucumbers  and  the  leeks  and  the  melons 
and  the  onions;  but  now  our  soul  is  dried  away  and 
there  is  nothing  at  all  besides  this  manna,  before  our 
eyes." 

You  notice  how  the  habit  of  exaggeration  grows 
on  people  who  are  impatient  and  inconsiderate.  You 

180 


EGYPT  AND  THE  WILDERNESS.  l8l 

see  how  they  cried  out  "there  is  nothing  at  all,"  in  that 
selfish  way. 

Then  Moses  talked  to  the  Lord  about  it,  and  the 
Lord  became  indignant  over  the  way  the  people  were 
behaving,  and  he  said  to  Moses :  "Thou  shalt  see  now 
whether  my  word  come  to  pass  unto  thee  or  not." 
And  there  went  forth  a  wind;  it  kept  blowing  for 
a  while,  blowing  more  and  more,  and  it  kept  on  blow-- 
ing; by  and  by  it  brought  great  flocks  of  quails  by  the 
hundreds  and  thousands.  The  quails  kept  on  coming, 
flying  with  the  wind,  until  by  and  by  thousands  of 
them  fell  around  the  camp  where  the  Israelites  were. 

Then  the  people  were  pleased.  They  thought  now 
they  could  have  something  different  to  eat  than  manna ; 
and  they  became  very  greedy.  They  went  out  and 
gathered  these  quails  and  brought  them  into  the  camp 
for  food.  They  took  large  baskets  and  filled  them, 
until  they  had  all  the  quails  they  wanted.  They  had 
not  had  this  kind  of  food  for  a  long  while,  and  they 
went  on  eating  and  eating  to  their  hearts'  content. 

You  can  be  sure  that  many  would  eat  too  much 
of  that  kind  of  food,  because  they  would  not  use  self- 
control  or  self-restraint.  They  just  went  on  eating 
all  they  wanted,  not  taking  the  manna  at  all.  And 
so  they  were  punished.  They  were  all  made  sick  by 
their  greediness,  and  then,  oh,  how  they  wished  they 
had  never  touched  those  quails!  Nearly  every  man 
and  woman  there  in  the  camp  was  ill  because  they 
had  eaten  so  much  of  that  one  kind  of  food.  Just 
think  how  ashamed  they  must  have  been,  sick  in  mind 
as  well  as  body.  They  knew  now  what  it  meant  to  be 
greedy,  and  to  the  end  of  their  lives  would  remember 
what  happened  to  them  from  eating  quails.  It  was  a 
lesson  for  their  murmuring  and  complaining,  and  for 
thinking  how  much  better  off  in  former  times  they 
were  than  now. 

After  this  I  do  not  know  just  how  long  the  Israelites 
went  on  wandering  in  the  Wilderness,  hoping  for 
the  time  to  come  when  they  should  enter  the  Land  of 
Canaan;  but  at  one  time  it  seems  they  came  quite 
near  to  the  country  not  far  away  from  the  River  Jor* 


1 82  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

dan,  which  separated  the  Wilderness  from  the  Land  of 
Canaan. 

It  was  decided  then  to  send  a  number  of  men  over 
into  Canaan  to  find  out  what  sort  of  a  country  it  was, 
so  that  they  should  know  how  to  act,  and  what  they 
should  have  to  do  when  they  crossed  the  Jordan  and 
entered  there.  It  was  known  that  the  people  who  at 
that  time  lived  in  the  land  of  Canaan  were  very  wicked. 
So  these  men  had  to  go  as  spies,  not  letting  the  people 
know  who  they  were,  lest  they  should  be  put  to  death. 
This  is  what  Moses  said  to  them:  "Get  you  up  this 
way  southward  and  see  the  land,  what  it  is;  and  the 
people  that  dwell  there,  whether  they  be  strong 
or  weak,  whether  they  be  few  or  many;  and  what 
the  land  is  that  they  dwell  in,  and  what  cities  they 
be  that  they  dwell  in,  whether  in  tents  or  in  strong- 
holds ;  and  what  the  land  is,  whether  it  be  fat  or  lean, 
whether  there  be  wood  therein  or  not.  And  be  ye  of 
good  courage  and  bring  of  the  fruit  of  the  land." 

I  must  own  that  I  should  not  like  to  have  been  one 
of  those  spies  who  were  obliged  to  cross  the  Jordan 
and  go  into  a  strange  country  among  the  wicked  peo- 
ple there.  But  they  went,  nevertheless,  the  spies  doing 
what  they  were  told. 

They  saw  a  good  deal  of  the  country  and  what  kind 
of  people  were  there,  and  they  found  it  to  be  just  as 
the  Lord  had  told  them — a  very  rich  country,  one  flow- 
ing with  milk  and  honey,  as  had  been  promised.  And 
they  thought  how  they  would  like  to  bring  back  some 
of  the  fruits  or  grapes  they  found  growing  there.  And 
so  they  concluded  to  take  one  of  the  clusters  back 
with  them.  Now  it  would  be  an  easy  enough  matter 
for  us  now  to  carry  a  single  bunch  of  grapes  with  us 
anywhere,  if  we  did  it  carefully.  But  the  bunches  of 
grapes  they  found  there  in  the  Land  of  Canaan  were 
larger  than  any  you  or  I  have  ever  seen.  In  fact,  a 
single  bunch  of  grapes  was  so  big  that  one  man  could 
not  carry  it.  Hence  two  of  the  men  took  a  staff 
and  rested  it  upon  their  shoulders,  and  then  they  got 
down  one  huge  cluster  and  hung  it  on  the  staff,  and 


EGYPT  AND  THE  WILDERNESS.  183 

in  this  way  they  carried  it  back  to  the  Israelites  in  the 
Wilderness. 

You  can  fancy  the  surprise  of  the  people  when  they 
saw  that  immense  bunch  of  grapes,  so  large  that  it 
took  two  people  to  carry  it.  And  they  all  wanted  to 
rush  across  the  Jordan  at  once  to  live  in  that  country 
where  grapes  grew  so  luxuriantly. 

Then  the  men  began  to  tell  something  about  what 
they  had  seen  there.  This  is  what  they  said:  "We 
came  to  the  land  whither  thou  sentest  us,  and  surely 
it  floweth  with  milk  and  honey,  and  this  is  the  fruit 
of  it.  Nevertheless,  the  people  be  strong  that  dwell 
in  the  land;  the  cities  are  walled  and  very  great." 

And  when  the  Israelites  asked  the  spies  how  great 
the  men  were,  they  had  to  be  told  that  the  men  of 
Canaan  were  giants — great,  tall  men — much  taller  than 
any  of  the  Children  of  Israel,  saying,  "We  were  in 
our  sight  as  grasshoppers  as  compared  with  these 
Canaanites." 

Another  look  came  over  the  people's  faces.  They 
said  no  more  about  rushing  over  into  that  land  where 
that  bunch  of  grapes  was  found.  It  was  all  different 
now,  and  they  talked  in  another  way;  and  once  more 
they  felt  just  like  children,  in  spite  of  all  the  training 
they  had  had  there  in  the  Wilderness.  And  what 
do  you  suppose  they  talked  about?  Why,  the  old  cry, 
of  course — sighing  for  the  fleshpots  of  Egypt.  This 
is  what  they  said  to  Moses :  "Would  to  the  Lord  we 
had  died  in  the  land  of  Egypt;  wherefore  doth  the 
Lord  bring  us  to  this  land  to  fall  by  the  sword,  that 
our  wives  and  our  children  should  be  a  prey?  Were 
it  not  better  for  us  to  return  to  Egypt?  Let  us  choose 
a  captain,  and  let  him  lead  us  back  to  that  country." 

Then  two  of  those  brave  men  who  had  gone  there 
into  Canaan,  Joshua  and  Caleb,  felt  very  sorry  indeed 
and  very  much  ashamed  of  the  folly  of  the  Israelites 
in  wishing  to  return  to  Egypt.  They  rent  their  clothes, 
and  said  to  the  people:  "The  land  which  we  passed 
through  to  see,  is  an  exceeding  good  land.  If  the  Lord 
delight  in  us,  he  will  bring  us  to  this  land  and  give  it 
unto  us;  for  it 'is  a  land  that  floweth  with  milk  and 


184  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

honey.  Only  rebel  not  ye  against  the  Lord,  neither 
fear  ye  the  people  of  the  land." 

The  Children  of  Israel  became  angry  at  this  and 
picked  up  stones  and  were  going  to  stone  Joshua  and 
Caleb  for  talking  in  that  way.  Then  the  Great  Ruler 
knew  that  these  people  would  never  be  ready  or  fit 
to  enter  the  Promised  Land.  In  spite  of  all  the  trou- 
bles they  had'had,  and  the  punishments,  they  went  on 
acting  in  the  same  old  way.  At  first  he  decided  to 
put  them  all  to  death.  But  Moses  pleaded  very  hard 
that  the  people  might  be  forgiven,  and  this  is  what 
he  said :  "Thou  broughtest  up  this  people  in  thy  might 
from  among  the  Egyptians,  for  they  have  heard  that 
thou  art  with  us,  that  thy  cloud  standeth  over  the 
people  and  that  thou  goest  before  them  in  a  pillar  of 
cloud  by  day  and  a  pillar  of  fire  by  night.  Now  if 
thou  shalt  kill  these  people  as  one  man,  then  the 
nations  when  they  hear  of  it  will  say  that  thou  didst 
it  because  thou  wert  not  able  to  bring  the  people  into 
the  Land  which  thou  promised  them.  Now  I  pray 
thee,  pardon  the  iniquity  of  this  people  according  to 
the  greatness  of  thy  mercy,  and  as  thou  hast  forgiven 
these  people  even  from  Egypt  until  now."  And  the 
Lord  said  to  Moses :  "I  will  pardon  this  people  accord- 
ing to  thy  wish ;  but  surely  they  shall  not  see  the  land 
which  I  promised  to  their  fathers, — none  of  them  that 
now  live,  save  Joshua  and  Caleb.  As  for  the  rest  of 
them,  they  shall  die  in  the  Wilderness  according  to 
their  whole  number,  all  those  who  were  twenty  years 
old  and  upward  when  they  left  the  land  of  Egypt." 

Moses  told  all  this  to  the  Children  of  Israel  and 
they  knew  that  they  had  been  punished.  You  see,  the 
Ruler  of  the  World  had  found  out  at  last  that  all  those 
who  had  been  grown  men  and  women  when  they  left 
Egypt,  would  always  act  like  children,  and  that  the 
only  thing  to  do  would  be  to  wait  until  they  should 
die,  and  until  those  who  had  been  children  when  they 
left  Egypt  had  grown  up  into  manhood  and  woman- 
.hood  and  might  show  a  better  spirit. 

And  this  is  why  the  Israelites  had  to  wander  about 
there  in  the  Wilderness  for  forty  years,  as  we  are 


EGYPT  AND  THE  WILDERNESS.  185 

told,  before  being  allowed  to  enter  the  Promised  Land. 
If  they  had  acted  less  like  children,  all  this  would  not 
have  happened  and  they  might  have  gone  into  that 
country  long  before.  All  they  could  think  about  to 
comfort  themselves  was  that,  at  any  rate,  their  children 
would  be  able  to  go  there  and  live  in  that  beautiful 
country.  Whenever  new  trials  came  to  them,  instead 
of  thinking  how,  by  and  by,  they  would  enter  that  land, 
they  would  say  to  each  other :  "Well,  at  any  rate  our 
children  can  go  there  when  they  are  grown  men  and 
women." 

When  it  was  too  late,  they  had  begun  to  learn  bet- 
ter behavior.  But  they  looked  into  their  children's 
Jaces  and  kept  up  their  courage  for  the  sake  of  their 
little  ones.  Still  they  were  obliged  to  stay  in  that 
tiresome  country  for  many  years  yet,  living  on  the 
manna,  and  wandering  about  from  place  to  place. 
Sometimes  the  wicked  people  who  dwelt  in  the  Wilder- 
ness would  attack  them  and  try  to  kill  them;  and  so 
they  had  war  from  time  to  time.  But  they  felt  pretty 
sure  now  that  the  Lord,  the  Ruler  of  the  World,  would 
stand  by  them  and  keep  his  promise,  and  that  their 
children  should  by  and  by  cross  the  Jordan  and  enter 
that  Land. 

I  do  not  need  to  tell  you  about  the  battles  they  had, 
because  war  is  always  a  sad  subject.  It  means  almost 
everything  terrible  that  one  can  think  of.  Yet,  from 
these  wars,  the  Israelites  learned  a  great  deal  about 
fighting,  and  began  to  have  more  courage;  so  that 
their  Lord  could  feel  sure  that,  by  and  by,  they  would 
be  fit  for  their  new  home  in  the  new  country. 

To  THE  TEACHER:  The  first  part  of  this  chapter 
is  something  of  a  refrain  and  as  such  has  a  value. 
The  point  can  not  be  driven  home  too  strongly.  Touch 
on  the  disposition  to  exaggeration,  especially  when  one 
is  telling  of  one's  woes  or  troubles.  Explain  how  tire- 
some this  becomes  to  those  who  have  to  listen  to  it. 
In  the  second  part  of  the  chapter  we  deal  once  more 
with  the  feature  of  "childishness,"  in  the  habit  of  talk- 
ing boldly  one  minute  and  being  cowardly  the  next, 


1 86  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

% 

Point  out  the  mistake  in  not  showing  trust  and  going 
ahead  at  once  when  a  command  comes  from  a  superior. 
Dwell  on  the  courage  and  promptitude  with  which 
Caleb  and  Joshua  had  gone  forth  at  once  at  the  charge 
of  Moses,  without  fear  or  hesitation.  Show  a  picture 
of  the  two  men  carrying  the  bunch  of  grapes.  Empha- 
size the  fearful  disappointment  which  must  have  fallen 
on  the  people  in  the  punishment  meted  out  to  them,  and 
yet  explain  how  thoroughly  they  deserved  it. 

MEMORY  VERSES: 

The  land  which  we  passed  through  is  an  exceeding 
good  land;  for  it  is  a  land  that  is  flowing  with  milk 
and  honey. 

Neither  rebel  ye  against  the  Lord  nor  be  afraid  of 
the  people  of  the  land 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 
The  Story  of  Balaam. 

In  the  course  of  the  many  experiences  which  this 
people  had  to  go  through,  during  those  years  of  wait- 
ing, there  is  one  event,  however,  which  you  might  care 
to  hear  about,  because  of  what  happened  in  connection 
with  it.  You  may,  perhaps,  already  have  heard  of 
Balaam.  It  is  a  story  which  is  often  told  about  the 
Children  of  Israel  in  those  early  days  when  they  were 
wandering  in  the  wilderness. 

It  seems  that  at  one  time  they  had  met  with  a  tribe 
of  people  called  the  Moabites,  who  were  quite  hostile 
but  at  the  same  time  very  much  afraid.  And  the  name 
of  the  king  of  this  people  was  Balak.  As  we  are  told 
in  our  story: 

"Moab  was  sore  afraid  of  the  people  because  they 
were  many;  and  Moab  was  distressed  because  of  the 
Children  of  Israel,  saying:  Now  shall  this  multitude 
lick  up  all  that  is  round  about  us,  as  the  ox  licketh  up 
the  grass  of  the  field." 

They  were  very  much  concerned,  therefore,  as  to 
what  they  should  do  in  order  to  protect  themselves  and 
to  overcome  the  Israelites.  And  at  last  they  fell  upon 
a  scheme  which  will  seem  very  strange  to  us.  In  those 
early  days,  as  you  know,  there  was  a  belief  among 
many  people  that  a  certain  class  of  persons  might  do  an 
injury  by  pronouncing  curses.  It  was  felt  that  if  such 
men  should  speak  a  curse  upon  anybody,  then  the  lan- 
guage somehow  carried  with  it  much  possible  harm  to 
that  person.  Balak,  the  king  of  the  Moabites,  made 
up  his  mind  accordingly,  that  he  would  have  this  done 
if  possible  upon  the  children  of  Israel.  And  the  man 
he  selected  for  the  purpose  was  Balaam, 

187 


1 88  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

He  sent  messengers  to  this  person,  therefore,  saying : 
"Behold,  there  is  a  people  come  out  from  Egypt;  they 
cover  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  they  abide  over  against 
me.  Come  now,  therefore,  I  pray  thee,  curse  me  this 
people ;  for  they  are  too  mighty  for  me.  Peradventure 
I  shall  prevail,  that  we  may  smite  them  and  that  I  may 
drive  them  out  of  the  land ;  for  I  know  that  he  whom 
thou  blesseth  is  blessed,  and  he  whom  thou  curseth  is 
cursed." 

But  the  Ruler  over  All  warned  Balaam  that  he 
should  not  go  with  them,  saying :  "Thou  shalt  not  curse 
the  people ;  for  they  are  blessed."  The  servants  of  the 
king  were,  therefore,  obliged  to  return  disappointed. 
But  again  Balak  sent  other  messengers,  princes  even 
more  noble  than  the  first,  and  they  came  to  Balaam 
and  said  to  him:  "Thus  saith  Balak:  "Let  nothing,  I 
pray  thee,  hinder  thee  from  coming  unto  me.  For  I 
will  promote  thee  unto  very  great  honor,  and  I  will  do 
whatsoever  thou  sayest  unto  me.  Come  now,  there- 
fore, I  pray  thee,  curse  me  this  people."  And  Balaam 
answered  and  said  unto  the  servants  of  Balak:  "If 
Balak  would  give  me  his  house  full  of  silver  and  gold, 
I  cannot  go  beyond  the  word  of  the  Lord  to  do  less  or 
more." 

Yet  one  cannot  help  thinking  that  he  was  a  little 
disappointed  the  first  time.  While  he  felt  that  he 
could  not  disobey,  yet  somehow  we  are  inclined  to  as- 
sume that  he  wanted  to  carry  out  the  wishes  of  Balak. 
He  was  one  of  those  men  who  like  to  have  their  own 
way  in  spite  of  the  commands  which  might  be  laid 
upon  them.  He  would  not  actually  disobey,  but  his 
obedience  was  what  we  should  call  of  a  half-hearted 
kind.  There  are  a  good  many  people  who  have  this 
trait  of  character  and  it  shows  itself  in  many  ways. 

Under  the  circumstances,  it  seemed  best  to  the  Lord 
that  Balaam  should  be  allowed  to  go  to  the  king  of  the 
Moabites  and  be  put  to  a  test.  The  man  in  this  way 
might  learn  something  which  would  be  valuable  for 
him  throughout  his  whole  life.  It  was  said  to  him, 
therefore:  "If  the  men  come  to  call  thee,  rise  up  and 


EGYPT  AND  THE  WILDERNESS.  I»9 

go  with  therm;  but  yet  the  word  which  I  shall  say  unto 
thee,  that  shalt  thou  do." 

And  Balaam  rose  up  in  the  morning  and  saddled  his 
ass  and  went  with  the  princes  of  Moab.  On  the  way, 
however,  he  had  a  very  striking  experience.  He  was 
to  be  disciplined  a  little  by  the  Ruler  of  the  World,  and 
to  find  out  that  a  true  obedience  should  be  whole- 
hearted. He  was  riding  along  absent-mindedly,  buried 
in  his  thoughts,  scarcely  conscious  of  where  he  was, 
perhaps  thinking  what  words  he  should  use  in  order 
to  carry  out  the  wish  of  the  king  of  the  Moabites,  when 
suddenly  the  ass  he  rode  came  to  a  stop.  A  messen- 
ger of  the  Lord  had  been  sent  to  give  Balaam  a  warn- 
ing, and  stood  there  in  the  way.  But  for  some  strange 
reason,  he  was  not  seen  by  Balaam,,  who  had  been  bur- 
ied in  his  own  thoughts  and  perhaps  a  little  troubled 
in  conscience.  As  we  are  told  in  our  story: 

Now  he  was  riding  upon  his  ass  and  his  two  serv- 
ants were  with  him.  And  the  ass  saw  the  messenger 
standing  in  the  way,  with  the  sword  drawn  in  his 
hand ;  and  the  ass  turned  aside  out  of  the  way  and  went 
into  a  field ;  and  Balaam  smote  the  ass  to  turn  her  into 
the  way.  Then  the  messenger  stood  in  a  hollow  way 
between  the  vineyards,  a  fence  being  on  this  side  and 
a  fence  on  that  side.  And  the  ass  saw  the  messenger 
and  she  thrust  herself  into  the  wall  and  crushed  Ba- 
laam's foot  against  the  wall.  And  he  smote  her  again. 
And  the  messenger  went  further  and  stood  in  a  narrow 
place  where  there  was  no  way  to  turn  either  to  the 
right  hand  nor  to  the  left.  And  the  ass  saw  the  angel 
of  the  Lord  and  she  lay  down  under  Balaam.  And 
Balaam's  anger  was  kindled  and  he  smote  the  ass  with 
his  staff. 

Then  what  do  you  suppose  happened  ?  It  was  some- 
thing most  unusual  and  contrary  to  all  our  experiences. 
In  the  agitation  of  mind  that  Balaam  was  under,  he 
seemed  to  hear  a  voice,  as  if  it  were  the  ass  herself 
speaking  to  him,  saying :  "What  have  I  done  unto  thee, 
that  thou  hast  smitten  me  these  three  times?"  And 
Balaam  said  unto  the  ass :  "Because  thou  hast  mocked 
me.  I  would  there  were  a  sword  in  my  hand,  for  now 


190  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

I  had  killed  thee."  As  he  was  speaking,  he  came 
to  himself  and  was  conscious  where  he  was,  and  now 
for  the  first  time  saw  the  messenger  of  the  Lord  stand- 
ing before  him.  And  he  bowed  his  head  and  fell  on 
his  face.  And  the  messenger  of  the  Lord  said  unto 
him:  "Wherefore  hast  thou  smitten  thine  ass  these 
three  times  ?"  And  Balaam  said :  "I  have  sinned ;  for 
I  knew  not  that  thou  stoodest  in  the  way  against  me; 
now,  therefore,  if  it  displease  thee,  I  will  get  me  back 
again." 

It  shows  us  what  excitement  was  going  on  in  the 
mind  of  Balaam.  He  had  not  been  at  peace  within 
himself;  for  he  had  been  pulled  all  the  while  in  two 
ways.  Down  in  his  heart  he  saw  plainly  that  he 
had  really  wanted  to  carry  out  the  wishes  of  king  Ba- 
lak,  while  he  knew  it  had  been  contrary  to  the  wish  of 
his  Lord.  He  felt  somehow  as  if  he  deserved  a  pun- 
ishment. And  now  the  warning  came  again  from  this 
messenger,  saying  in  stern  language,  as  if  it  was  spok- 
en right  out  of  the  conscience  of  Balaam  himself :  "Go 
with  the  men ;  but  yet  the  word  that  I  shall  speak  unto 
thee,  that  thou  shalt  speak." 

And  when  he  had  come  to  Balak,  he  was  taken  up  on 
one  of  the  high  places  where  the  Moabites  used  to  make 
sacrifices  to  their  idols,  and  he  was  asked  to  curse  the 
Children  of  Israel.  As  he  stood  there  by  the  altar,  he 
began  to  speak,  saying:  "Balak,  king  of  Moab,  hath 
brought  me  here,  telling  me,  Come,  curse  me  Jacob, 
and  come,  defy  Israel.  How  shall  I  curse  whom  the 
Lord  hath  not  cursed  ?  For  from  the  tops  of  the  rocks 
I  see  him  and  from  the  hills  I  behold  him.  Who  can 
count  the  dust  of  Jacob  and  the  number  of  the  fourth 
part  of  Israel?  Let  me  die  the  death  of  the  righteous 
and  let  my  last  end  be  like  his." 

And  Balak  said  unto  Balaam :  "What  hast  thou  done 
unto  me  ?  I  took  thee  to  curse  my  enemies  and  behold 
thou  hast  blessed  them  altogether."  And  he  said 
again :  "Come,  I  pray  thee,  with  me  unto  another  place 
from  whence  thou  mayest  see  them ;  and  curse  me  them 
from  thence."  And  he  took  Balaam  to  another  high 
place  where  there  were  other  altars.  And  once  more 


EGYPT  AND  THE  WILDERNESS.  1QI 

the  solemn  words  came  forth:  "Rise  up,  Balak,  and 
hear.  The  Lord  is  not  a  man  that  he  should  lie; 
neither  the  son  of  man,  that  he  should  repent.  Hath 
he  said,  and  shall  he  not  do  it?  Or  hath  he  spoken, 
and  shall  he  not  make  it  good?  He  hath  blessed  and; 
I  cannot  reverse  it." 

And  Balak  said  unto  Balaam :  "Come,  I  pray  thee,  I 
will  bring  thee  unto  another  place.  And  peradventure 
it  will  please  the  Lord  that  thou  mayest  curse  me  them 
from  thence/'  All  this  will  appear  very  strange  to  us 
nowadays.  We  can  scarcely  understand  it  at  all.  It 
takes  us  back,  you  see,  to  a  far  away  world  in  times 
long,  long  ago.  But  we  see  that  Balaam  was  now 
obedient  in  spite  of  himself.  He  had  received  his  les- 
son there  on  the  way,  as  he  rode  from  his  home  to  the 
abode  of  the  king.  It  was  plain  enough  to  him  now 
that  there  was  to  be  no  half-hearted  obedience.  He 
had  to  say  exactly  what  he  was  told  to  say. 

The  third  time,  therefore,  from  the  third  high  place, 
he  stood  by  an  altar.  And  Balaam  lifted  up  his  eyes 
and  he  saw  Israel,  dwelling  according  to  their  tribes. 
And  he  took  up  his  parable  and  said :  "How  goodly  are 
thy  tents,  O  Jacob,  and  thy  tabernacles,  O  Israel !  As 
the  valleys  are  they  spread  forth,  as  gardens  by  the 
river  side,  and  as  cedar  trees  beside  the  waters.  Blessed 
is  he  that  blesseth  thee  and  cursed  is  he  that  curseth 
thee." 

And  Balak's  anger  was  kindled  against  Balaam  and 
he  smote  his  hands  together.  And  Balak  said  unto 
Balaam :  "I  called  thee  to  curse  my  enemies  and  behold 
thou  hast  altogether  blessed  them  these  three  times. 
Therefore,  now,  flee  thou  to  thy  place." 

It  was  a  sad  experience  for  Balak  and  perhaps  also 
a  painful  one  for  Balaam.  Perhaps  they  had  been 
friends  in  former  times.  But  this  stupid  king  had  no 
right  to  ask  of  his  friend  to  pronounce  such  a  curse. 
It  was  weak  on  his  part.  Yes,  worse,  it  was  wicked. 
Perhaps,  too,  it  was  a  discovery  to  Balaam.  He  may 
have  found  out  that  there  was  no  power  in  himself  to 
bless  or  to  curse ;  that  words  just  from  his  lips,  out  of 
himself,  were  mere  words  and  had  no  meaning,  save  as 


1Q2  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

they  spoke  for  the  Ruler  of  the  World.  It  was  a  les- 
son in  humility  to  Balaam  and  a  punishment  upon  Ba- 
lak  for  his  idolatry. 

To  THE  TEACHER:  It  may  seem  at  first  as  if  there 
were  no  actual  lesson  of  value  to  be  found  in  the  story 
of  Balaam.  But  under  any  circumstances,  it  must  be 
told  to  the  young  people,  because  it  is  one  of  the  best 
known  tales  from  the  Bible.  On  careful  examination, 
however,  we  may  see  some  valuable  points  to  be  found 
in  the  narrative.  There  is  a  suggestion  of  weakness 
of  character  in  Balaam  himself,  and  this  can  readily  be 
pointed  out.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  also  the  les- 
son suggested  in  the  superstition  of  Balak.  We  must 
note  that  he  was  a  worshiper  of  Baal  and 
therefore  an  idolator.  This  belief  in  the  in- 
fluence of  a  curse  went,  therefore,  with  his 
idolatry.  We  do  not  wish  to  go  far  into  the  general 
subject  of  superstitions,  but  we  can  point  out  the  weak- 
ness in  supposing  that  any  one  man  by  his  own  author- 
ity may  exert  a  sinister  influence  through  the  mere 
force  of  spoken  words.  There  is  a  great  deal  more  in 
this  than  merely  the  extraordinary  incident  which  us- 
ually stands  out  so  conspicuously,  that  of  the  ass 
speaking  to  Balaam, — although  it  is  the  feature  which 
has  often  been  emphasized  as  the  one  incident  to  be 
remembered. 

MEMORY  VERSES:  //  Balak  would  give  me  his 
house  full  of  silver  and  gold,  I  cannot  go  beyond  the 
word  of  the  Lord,  to  do  less  or  more. 

"The  Lord  is  not  a  man  that  he  should  lie;  neither 
the  son  of  man  that  he  should  repent.  Hath  he  said 
and  shall  he  not  do  it?  Or  hath  he  spoken  and  shall 
he  not  make  it  good?" 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
The  Death  of  Moses. 

It  was  almost  forty  years  now  since  the  Children 
of  Israel  had  crossed  the  Red  Sea  and  come  into  the 
Wilderness.  The  time  was  drawing  near  when  they 
were  to  be  allowed  to  go  over  the  River  Jordan  and 
enter  the  Land  of  Canaan.  But  this  could  not  take 
place  while  Moses  was  alive.  Aaron,  however,  who 
had  been  guilty  of  the  same  wrong  conduct  as  Moses, 
had  died  some  time  before. 

Moses  was  now  an  old  man  of  some  one  hundred 
and  twenty  years.  He  felt  that  he  could  not  live 
much  longer.  The  story  of  his  death  is  something 
we  shall  always  be  interested  to  remember.  He  was 
never  to  be  allowed  to  enter  the  Promised  Land;  yet 
he  had  been  so  strong  and  so  brave  and  so  true  all 
these  years,  save  for  the  one  time  when  he  forgot 
himself,  that  the  Lord  over  All  thought  at  any  rate 
he  would  let  Moses  take  one  look  into  that  beautiful 
country. 

At  first  Moses  gathered  as  many  people  together  as 
could  hear  him,  and  talked  to  them  for  a  long  while. 
He  began  to  tell  them  all  that  had  taken  place  since 
the  time  when  he  had  led  them  out  of  Egypt  from 
the  Red  Sea.  I  can  fancy  how  the  tears  must  have 
come  into  his  eyes  again  and  again  as  he  went  on 
speaking,  and  the  memories  of  those  struggles  came 
back  to  him  one  after  another. 

He  reminded!  them  how  the  Red  Sea  had  been 
driven  back  so  that  they  could  cross  safely;  then  again, 
how  when  they  were  hungry  and  starving,  they  had 
found  the  manna  growing  as  food  everywhere  in  the 
Wilderness;  how  when  they  were  thirsty,  they  would 

193 


194  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

come  from  time  to  time  upon  water.  He  reminded 
them  above  all,  how  selfish  they  had  been  in  their 
complaining  in  former  times;  how  they  had  always 
kept  talking  about  the  flesh  pots  of  Egypt  and  wishing 
to  return  there  in  spite  of  the  slavery.  He  reminded 
them  of  the  time  when  they  had  had  their  first  battle, 
and  how  he  had  stood  on  that  hill  and  held  up  his 
hand  that  they  might  take  courage  and  go  on  and 
fight  bravely  and  win;  and  how  he  had  remained  on 
that  hill  from  dawn  till  the  setting  of  the  sun,  when 
they  won  their  victory.  He  told  them  again  of  the 
time  when  they  grew  impatient  of  the  food  they  had, 
and  wanted  the  same  they  had  had  in  Egypt, 
and  how  when  the  quails  had  been  sent  they  had 
given  themselves  over  to  greed,  and  how  they  had 
been  made  sick  because  of  their  want  of  self-restraint. 
He  reminded  them  how  like  children  they  had  acted, 
and  how  long  it  had  been  before  they  were  ready  to 
enter  the  Promised  Land.  He  told  them  once  more 
of  the  time  when  they  had  sent  spies  into  Canaan, 
thinking  that  they  would  soon  enter  that  land;  and 
how,  when  the  spies  came  back  with  that  cluster  of 
grapes  and  told  them  about  the  giants  over  there, 
how  they  lost  courage  again  and  wanted  to  return  to 
Egypt  and  their  flesh  pots,  and  how,  for  this  reason 
their  fathers  and  mothers  had  been  punished  by  the 
decree  that  none  of  those  who  had  been  over  twenty 
years  old  when  they  left  Egypt  should  ever  enter  the 
Land.  Then  he  told  them  about  his  own  wrong  con- 
duct; and  as  he  came  to  this  point,  his  voice  was 
shaking  and  tears  came  to  his  eyes,  so  that  only  those 
who  were  near  to  him  could  hear  what  he  was  saying. 
He  was  reminding  them  of  the  time  when  he  was 
proud  and  boastful,  and  why  he  could  never  enter 
that  Promised  Land.  Then  he  went  on  to  speak  of 
the  Ten  Commandments  written  on  Mount  Sinai  on 
the  two  tables  of  stone,  and  how  they  had  been  given 
to  the  people  to  be  preserved  in  the  ark.  Then  he 
told  them  how  they  were  to  act,  and  what  they  were 
to  do,  and  how  they  should  be  a  true,  brave  people  and 


EGYPT  AND  THE  WILDERNESS.  IQ5 

obey  the  laws,  if  they  ever  expected  to  be  prosperous 
and  happy. 

But  there  was  one  thing  more  to  be  considered. 
He  knew  it  would  not  do  to  leave  them  without  a 
leader — some  one  who  might  take  his  place.  Long 
before,  the  Lord  over  All  had  told  him  that  he  was 
to  make  Joshua  the  leader  in  his  place,  when  he  came 
to  die.  And  so  now  at  the  end  of  his  long  talk  he 
calls  Joshua  to  him — the  brave  man,  you  remember, 
who  had  come  back  from  the  land  of  Canaan  and  felt 
so  ashamed  when  the  people  of  Israel  were  afraid 
about  the  giants. 

Then  Moses  laid  his  hand  on  Joshua's  head,  and 
told  the  people  that  they  were  to  follow  this  new 
leader,  and  that  Joshua  should  guide  them  across  the 
Jordan;  and  as  he  said  this  he  pointed  to  the  Prom- 
ised Land.  These  were  his  last  words  to  them:  "I 
am  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  old  this  day;  I  can 
no  more  go  out  and  come  in ;  and  the  Lord  hath  said 
to  me  that  I  should  not  go  over  the  Jordan.  But  he 
will  go  there  before  thee,  and  Joshua  shall  lead  thee, 
as  the  Lord  hath  said.  Be  strong  and  of  good  cour- 
age ;  fear  not,  and  the  Lord  will  not  fail  thee  nor  for- 
sake thee." 

And  he  ended  with  those  words  to  Joshua:  "Be 
strong  and  of  good  cheer,  for  thou  shalt  go  with  these 
people  into  the  land  which  the  Lord  hath  promised 
to  their  fathers,  and  thou  shalt  cause  them  to  inherit 
it.  The  Lord  will  go  with  thee,  he  will  be  with  thee  and 
will  not  fail  thee  nor  forsake  thee.  Fear  not ;  neither 
be  dismayed." 

It  was  a  long,  long  talk  he  gave  the  people,  and  I 
am  sure  they  had  listened  in  order  to  hear  every  word 
of  it.  Then  at  last,  as  he  came  to  the  end,  he  knew 
that  the  time  had  come  when  he  should  die. 

And  so  the  Ruler  of  the  World  told  him  to  depart 
from  the  people  and  to  go  to  the  top  of  a  high  moun- 
tain called  Mount  Nebo.  And  then  Moses  went  away, 
all  alone,  and  climbed  painfully  and  slowly  to  the  top 
of  that  lofty  mountain,  which  is  also  called  Mount 


196  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

Pizgah.  It  was  a  high  mountain,  much  higher  than 
any  other  mountains  round  about ;  and  it  was  close  by 
the  River  Jordan,  so  that  from  the  top  of  the  mount- 
ain Moses  was  told  to  look  down  and  see  there 
stretched  out  before  him  the  Promised  Land,  the  land 
which  had  been  promised  to  Abraham  and  to  Isaac 
and  to  Jacob. 

Then  the  Lord  said  to  Moses:  "This  is  the  land 
which  I  promised  to  Abraham  and  to  Isaac  and  to 
Jacob;  I  will  give  it  unto  thy  people;  now  I  have 
caused  thee  to  see  it  with  thine  eyes,  but  thou  shalt 
not  go  over  there."  And  Moses  stood  gazing  at  the 
beautiful  country  for  a  long,  long  time,  thinking  of 
the  future  and  of  what  might  happen  to  the  Children 
of  Israel  whom  he  had  been  leading  about  for  forty 
years  in  that  Wilderness. 

He  hoped  that  their  trials  had  come  to  an  end.  He 
knew  he  deserved  the  punishment  that  had  come  upon 
him;  and  he  was  only  too  glad  that  he  had  been  al- 
lowed to  look  into  the  country  far  away,  the  Land 
of  Canaan.  As  he  stood  there  on  the  mountain  he 
came  to  his  end,  and  was  buried  there — but  in  what 
way,  we  do  not  know,  because,  as  we  are  told,  "No 
man  knoweth  of  his  sepulchre  to  this  day."  Moses 
was  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  old  when  he  died, 
and  his  eye  was  not  dimmed,  nor  his  natural  force 
abated. 

And  thus  we  close  the  story  of  the  life  of  this  great 
leader  of  the  Children  of  Israel. 

To  THE  TEACHER  :  This  lesson  should  also  involve 
a  complete  review  of  the  life  of  Moses,  going  back 
over  each  lesson  and  the  "Memory  Verses"  through- 
out the  whole  of  Part  III.  Show  a  picture  of  Mount 
Nebo — also  a  photograph  of  the  "Moses"  by  Michael 
Angelo,  taking  care  however  to  comment  on  the 
"horns"  as  a  fanciful  addition  of  the  artist,  intro- 
duced by  him  as  a  symbol  of  strength,  and  not  im- 
plying that  the  horns  had  really  been  there.  The 
various  personal  traits  of  the  Leader  of  the  Israelites 
should  be  dwelt  upon,  and  the  children  encouraged  to 


EGYPT  AND  THE  WILDERNESS.  197 

give  a  continuous  narrative  of  his  whole  life.  Con- 
trast the  elements  of  weakness  and  strength  in  his 
career,  pointing  out  what  to  admire  and  what  not  to 
admire,  drawing  a  very  solemn  picture  of  Moses 
alone  on  the  Mount,  viewing  from  a  distance  the 
"Promised  Land!" 

MEMORY  VERSE:  Be  strong  and  of  good  courage; 
fear  not  and  the  Lord  will  not  fail  thee  or  forsake 
thee. 


PART  IV. 

CONQUERING  THE  LAND  OF  CANAAN. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 
Crossing  the  Jordan. 

We  have  come  now  to  the  time  when  the  Children 
of  Israel  were  to  enter  the  Promised  Land.  They  had 
been  waiting,  wandering  about  for  forty  years  in  the 
Wilderness,  as  you  remember.  Moses  had  died  after 
having  looked  out  on  the  Promised  Land  from  the 
top  of  Mount  Pizgah. 

Everything  had  changed  since  the  time  when  the 
Israelites  had  crossed  the  Red  Sea,  chased  by  the 
soldiers  of  the  King  of  Egypt.  All  the  grown  men 
who  had  gone  over  that  sea  at  that  time,  were  now 
dead.  Those  who  could  look  back  upon  what  hap- 
pened then,  could  only  recall  it  as  a  memory  of  their 
childhood. 

I  must  tell  you  now  how  they  entered  the  Land  of 
Canaan,  and  what  they  had  to  do  there.  While  we 
speak  of  them  as  the  Children  of  Israel,  you  can  see 
that  many  of  them  were  quite  along  in  years ;  perhaps 
some  of  them  with  gray  hair;  they  had  had  to  go 
through  a  great  deal  there  in  the  Wilderness,  and 
they  had  learned  much  through  hard  experience. 
They  had  had  anything  but  an  easy  time  of  it.  But, 
in  this  way,  they  had  learned  how  to  obey  rules,  and 
to  do  as  they  were  told  to  do.  This  was  what  came 
the  hardest  for  them,  and  that  is  why  they  had  not 
been  allowed  before  this  time  to  go  over  into  the 
Promised  Land. 

Perhaps  you  have  al  *eady  learned  about  the  way  we 

198 


CONQUERING  THE  LAND  OF  CANAAN. 

usually  speak  of  the  Israelites  of  those  days  ?  I  mean 
by  this,  the  way  they  were  divided  up.  It  may  be 
that  you  have  heard  of  the  Twelve  Tribes  of  Israel. 
In  my  story  I  have  not  said  much  before  about  these 
twelve  tribes;  because  when  the  people  had  crossed 
the  Red  Sea,  forty  years  before,  they  were  just  one 
great  crowd  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  men,  women 
and  children,  being  led  by  Moses  and  Aaron.  But 
during  the  time  of  waiting  in  that  Wilderness,  they 
had  been  divided  up  into  what  we  call  "tribes;"  that 
is  to  say,  those  who  had  descended  from  one  of  the 
sons  of  Jacob  were  called  after  that  son's  name;  and 
all  those  who  had  descended  from  another  son,  were 
called  after  that  other  son's  name.  And  since  Jacob 
had  had  twelve  sons,  you  see  there  would  be  twelve 
tribes.  There  was  the  "Tribe  of  Judah,"  and  the  "Tribe 
of  Benjamin,"  and  the  "Tribe  of  Simeon,"  and  the 
"Tribe  of  Dan,"  and  all  the  other  tribes.  The  leader 
of  them  all  now  was  Joshua. 

They  had  come  to  the  borders  of  Canaan,  where 
they  could  look  over  and  see  the  land  to  which  they 
were  going ;  but  the  first  thing  they  had  to  do  was  to 
cross  a  great  river.  I  do  not  mean  by  this,  a  river 
as  great  as  the  Mississippi  or  the  Amazon.  Yet,  w< 
have  heard  so  much  about  it,  and  its  name  has  been 
spoken  of  so  many  times  in  the  history  of  the  world, 
that  somehow  one  always  thinks  of  it  as  something 
"great."  It  was  a  narrow  stream,  although  at  cer- 
tain times  in  the  year,  very  deep  and  swift.  We  hav$ 
already  told  you  something  about  it  in  the  other 
stories,  which  you  will  remember.  I  am  sure  tnat 
you  have  not  forgotten  about  Abraham  and  Lot,  and 
how  Lot  had  chosen  the  Plain  of  the  "Jordan."  And 
it  is  this  River  Jordan  which  we  are  now  talking 
about. 

You  see,  the  Children  of  Israel  had  come  back  at 
last  to  the  borders  of  the  very  land  where  their  fore- 
father Abraham  lived  hundreds  of  years  before.  Al- 
ready at  that  time  it  was  promised  to  Abraham  for 
his  family  by  the  Lord,  the  Ruler  of  the  World ;  and 
now  the  descendants  of  Abraham,  all  these  hundreds 


2OO  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE   STORIES. 

of  thousands  of  people,  were  beginning  to  see  how 
this  promise  was  to  be  kept.  They  had  been  away 
from  this  country  for  a  long,  long  while,  so  that  I 
fancy  they  would  have  felt  more  at  home  in  Egypt 
than  now  in  the  Land  of  Canaan.  But  they  were 
only  too  glad  to  think  that  they  should  come  to  this 
new  country,  because  here  they  could  be  a  free  peo- 
ple, whereas  in  Egypt  they  had  been  slaves. 

I  like  to  picture  to  myself  that  vast  army  of  people 
waiting  there  on  the  other  side  of  the  River  Jordan, 
with  their  leader  Joshua,  until  the  word  should  be 
given  for  them  to  pass  over.  They  had  learned  pa- 
tience, and  stood  ready  to  follow  the  command  of 
Joshua. 

You  might  suppose  that  they  were  dreaming  of 
crossing  that  river  and  settling  down  at  once  in  that 
rich  country  where  that  great  bunch  of  grapes  had  come 
from,  the  land  "flowing  with  milk  and  honey."  But 
no,  they  had  no  such  dreams.  They  had  not  forgot- 
ten what  those  spies  or  messengers,  who  had  been 
over  there  and  seen  the  country,  had  told  them ;  how 
there  were  giants  in  that  country,  and  mighty  men 
of  valor,  and  how  they  would  have  to  fight  for  a 
long  while  before  they  would  be  able  to  conquer  the 
land  and  settle  there. 

And  while  they  were  waiting,  that  great  army  of 
people,  with  the  little  children,  boys  and  girls,  won- 
dering what  was  going  to  happen,  and  the  fathers 
and  mothers  thoughtful  over  all  that  was  before  them, 
the  word  came  to  Joshua,  as  we  are  told,  bidding  him 
to  lead  the  people  over  the  Jordan.  And  this  is  what 
was  said  to  Joshua:  "Moses  my  servant  is  dead; 
now  therefore  arise,  go  over  this  Jordan,  thou  and 
all  this  people,  unto  the  land  which  I  do  give  them, 
even  to  the  Children  of  Israel.  Every  place  that  the 
sole  of  your  foot  shall  tread  upon,  to  you  have  I 
given  it,  as  I  spake  unto  Moses.  There  shall  not  any 
man  be  able  to  stand  before  thee  all  the  days  of  thy 
life.  As  I  was  with  Moses,  so  I  will  be  with  thee.  I 
will  not  fail  thee,  nor  forsake  thee.  Be  strong,  and 
of  good  courage;  for  thou  shalt  cause  this  people  to 


CONQUERING  THE  LAND  OF  CANAAN.  2OI 

inherit  the  land  which  I  promised  their  fathers  to 
give  them.  Only  be  strong  and  very  courageous,  to 
observe  to  do  according  to  all  the  law  which  Moses 
my  servant  commanded  thee;  turn  not  from  it  to  the 
right  hand  or  to  the  left,  that  thou  mayest  have  good 
success  whithersoever  thou  goest.  Then  thou  shalt 
make  thy  way  prosperous,  and  thou  shalt  have  good 
success.  Be  strong  and  of  good  courage;  be  not  af- 
frighted, neither  be  thou  dismayed." 

I  know  you  will  be  glad  to  have  heard  how  all  this 
was  said  to  Joshua,  because  it  shows  what  a  brave, 
good,  strong],  noble  old  soldier,  Joshua  must  have  been. 
We  could  see  that  the  people  could  trust  him,  just  as 
the  Lord  over  All  trusted  him.  Hence,  whenever  we 
think  about  the  Children  of  Israel  entering  the  Prom- 
ised Land,  we  always  think  how  they  were  led  by 
this  brave  soldier,  Joshua.  You  know,  whenever  a 
man  is  to  be  a  leader,  he  has  to  make  himself  trusted, 
otherwise  the  people  will  not  follow  him;  and  Joshua 
was  a  great  leader,  because  he  showed  that  he  could 
be  trusted. 

As  soon  as  Joshua  heard  these  words,  and  the  com- 
mand had  come  to  him,  at  once  he  set  about  doing 
whatever  had  to  be  done  so  that  the  people  might 
march  at  once.  They  had  to  get  ready  for  their  jour- 
ney, taking  their  food  with  them,  and  all  their  pos- 
sessions. 

And  this  is  what  Joshua  said  to  the  officers  of  the 
people:  "Pass  through  the  midst  of  the  camp,  and 
command  the  people,  saying,  Prepare  you  food,  for 
within  three  days  ye  are  to  pass  over  this  Jordan,  to 
go  in  to  possess  the  land." 

Now,  it  so  happened  that  two  or  three  of  the  tribes 
were  to  be  allowed  to  stay  on  that  side  of  the  Jordan, 
because  the  country  was  rich  there.  They  were  not, 
however,  to  be  allowed  to  remain  behind  as  yet,  but 
were  first  to  help  the  rest  of  the  tribes  in  conquering 
the  land  on  the  other  side  of  the  river.  They  were 
all  one  people,  and  they  were  to  fight  together  and 
serve  each  other.  And  so  Joshua  said  to  these  special 
tribes:  "Your  wives  and  your  little  ones  and  your 


2O2  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

cattle  shall  abide  in  this  land  on  this  side  of  the  Jor- 
dan; but  ye  shall  pass  over  before  your  brethren 
armed,  all  the  mighty  sons  of  valor,  and  shall  help 
them;  until  your  brethren  find  rest  and  have  pos- 
sessed the  land  promised  to  them.  Then  ye  shall  re- 
turn unto  this  land  of  your  possession,  and  possess  it." 

What  do  you  suppose  they  said  in  answer  to  Joshua  ? 
I  am  sure  if  it  had  been  the  Children  of  Israel  forty 
years  before,  they  would  have  refused  and  said  no, 
being  afraid,  or  else  'selfishly  unwilling  to  take  the 
risks  asked  of  them.  We  never  forget  how  the  Chil- 
dren of  Israel  in  those  former  times,  had  kept  wish- 
ing for  the  "flesh  pots  of  Egypt"  when  they  could  not 
have  their  own  way. 

But  it  was  different  now.  It  is  plain  enough  why 
those  people  should  have  been  kept  there  all  those 
years  in  the  Wilderness,  being  educated.  This  is 
what  they  said  to  Joshua :  "All  that  thou  hast  com- 
manded us  we  will  do,  and  whithersoever  thou  send- 
est  us  we  will  go.  According  as  we  hearkened  unto 
Moses  in  all  things,  so  will  we  hearken  unto  thee. 
Whosoever  he  be  that  shall  rebel  against  thy  com- 
mandment, and  shall  not  hearken  unto  thy  words  in 
all  that  thou  commandest  him,  he  shall  be  put  to 
death ;  only  be  strong  and  of  a  good  courage." 

The  three  days  had  passed  and  everything  was 
ready  for  the  march.  But  as  this  was  to  be  a  great 
event,  which  Joshua  wished  to  be  remembered  for  all 
future  time,  he  wanted  that  everything  should  be  very 
solemn  about  it.  The  people  were  not  to  rush  ahead 
just  as  they  pleased,  finding  their  way  as  best  they 
could  across  the  river,  and  over  into  the  new  country. 
First  a  number  of  the  priests  were  to  take  the  Ark 
and  carry  it  before  them  into  the  river.  When  they 
came  to  the  middle  of  the  river  they  were  to  stand 
there  and  wait,  holding  the  ark,  while  all  the  people 
passed  by  on  to  the  other  side. 

Hence  the  officers  said  to  the  people:  'When  ye 
see  the  Ark,  and  the  priests  bearing  it,  then  ye  shall 
remove  from  your  place  and  go  after  it.  Yet  there 
shall  be  a  space  between  you  and  it  about  two  thousand 


CONQUERING  THE  LAND  OF  CANAAN.  203 

cubits  by  measure.  Come  not  near  unto  it,  but  let  it 
first  go  before  you,  that  ye  may  know  the  way  by 
which  ye  must  go;  for  ye  have  not  passed  this  way 
heretofore." 

And  Joshua  spoke  to  the  priests,  saying :  "Take  up 
the  Ark  and  pass  over  before  the  people." 

Then  the  priests  did  as-  they  were  told,  and  went 
ahead  with  the  ark  until  they  had  come  into  the  river, 
and  there  they  stood,  waiting  solemnly,  while  all  the 
vast  number  of  people  passed  over  to  the  other  side. 
I  suppose  the  fathers  and  mothers  carried  their  little 
children  in  their  arms,  while  the  older  boys  and  girls 
followed  close  behind.  Each  tribe  was  going  by  itself; 
until  at  last  all  were  on  the  other  side. 

But  now  that  they  had  all  safely  reached  the  other 
bank  of  the  river,  and  were  actually  standing  on 
ground  which  was  a  part  of  the  Land  of  Canaan,  it 
was  very  important  that  something  should  be  done  to 
mark  the  spot  where  they  had  come  over,  and  to  leave 
a  kind  of  memorial  there.  This  would  be  something 
which  people  in  after  times  might  see.  And  when 
they  looked  upon  it  they  would  say  to  themselves,  this* 
was  where  our  forefathers  crossed  the  Jordan  and 
first  entered  the  Promised  Land. 

It  all  had  to  be  done  very  solemnly.  And  so  the 
Lord  over  All  said  to  Joshua :  "Take  you  twelve  men 
out  of  the  people,  out  of  every  tribe  a  man,  and  com- 
mand ye  them,  saying,  take  you  hence  out  of  the 
midst  of  Jordan,  out  of  the  place  where  the  priests' 
feet  stood  firm,  twelve  stones,  and  carry  them  over 
with  you,  and  lay  them  down  in  the  lodging  place 
where  ye  shall  lodge  this  night." 

Then  Joshua  called  the  twelve  men  whom  he  had 
chosen,  out  of  every  tribe  a  man,  and  he  said  to  them : 
"Take  you  up  every  man  of  you  a  stone  upon  his 
shoulder,  according  unto  the  number  of  the  tribes  of 
the  children  of  Israel." 

And  the  twelve  men  took  up  twelve  stones  out  oi 
the  midst  of  Jordan,  'and  they  carried  them  over  witfj 
them  unto  the  place  where  they  lodged,  and  laid  them 
down  there.  And  in  this  way  they  placed  their  me- 


204  rHE   OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE   STORIES. 

morial  beside  the  river  Jordan,  to  show  the  place  where 
the  people  had  crossed  over. 

To  THE  TEACHER:  At  this  point  turn  back  and 
have  the  children  recall  the  narrative  when  the  prom- 
ise we  are  speaking  of  was  made,  running  over  the 
incidents  connected  with  it.  Emphasize  the  importance 
of  the  preparations  which  were  going  on  and  the  rea- 
sons for  them.  Dwell  upon  the  point  about  being 
obedient  to  rules  and  how  much  trouble  came  because 
the  Children  of  Israel  did  not  learn  this  sooner.  The 
language  used  to  Joshua  and  the  words  to  the  people 
might  be  recited  aloud  by  the  children.  Touch  upon 
the  excited  feelings  of  the  people  now  that  the  great 
movement  was  at  hand  and  they  were  actually  to  en- 
ter the  Land  of  Canaan.  Show  a  picture  of  the  river 
Jordan ;  and  also  one  of  the  Plain  of  the  Jordan. 

MEMORY  VERSES  :  /  will  not  fail  thee  nor  forsake 
thee.  Be  strong  and  of  good  cowrage;  be  not  afraid, 
neither  be  thou  dismayed. 

All  that  thou  hast  commanded  us  we  will  do;  where- 
soever thou  sendest  us  we  will  go. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 
Conquering  the  City  of  Jericho. 

I  suppose  you  keep  thinking  about  the  time  when 
Abraham  lived  in  this  land  of  Canaan,  and  how  kindly 
the  people  had  treated  him  there.  At  that  time  it 
seemed  that  they  were  a  kindly  disposed  class  of  per- 
sons. Why,  then,  you  ask,  should  the  Children  of 
Israel  have  been  so  afraid  of  entering  this  new  coun- 
try; and  why  should  they  have  thought  about  it  as  a 
land  where  they  would  have  to  do  a  great  deal  of  fight- 
ing in  order  to  conquer  it  ? 

But  you  see,  a  great  many  changes  can  take  place 
in  the  course  of  a  few  hundred  years.  When  you  come 
to  think  of  it,  a  hundred  years  is  a  long  time.  It  may 
be,  too,  that  another  class  of  people  had  moved  into 
this  land  since  the  time  when  Abraham  lived  there. 
At  any  rate,  we  are  told  that  now  when  the  Children 
of  Israel  were  to  enter  this  Land  of  Canaan,  the  peo- 
ple living  there  were  a  very  bad  kind  of  people.  Per- 
haps those  who  had  been  living  there  had  grown 
wicked.  But  I  should  rather  suppose  that  the  wick- 
edness of  the  people  in  this  Land  of  Canaan  at  that 
time  had  come  from  other  persons  who  had  moved 
there  later  on.  We  know  that,  now,  at  any  rate, 
there  was  a  great  deal  of  wickedness  in  this  Land  of 
Canaan.  The  people  were  almost  as  bad  as  those  who 
had  been  living  in  those  cities  of  Sodom  and  Gomor- 
rah, which  I  told  you  about. 

On  this  account  the  Children  of  Israel  had  received 
a  command  which  I  almost  hate  to  tell  you  of.  It 
was  something  stern  and  awful.  Yet  I  suppose  that 
the  Lord  over  All  felt  that  there  was  no  other  way. 
He  wanted  that  a  better  kind  of  people  should  live  in 

205 


2O6  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

this  land.  Hence  he  told  Joshua  and  the  Children  of 
Israel  that  they  were  to  conquer  the  people  of  Canaan, 
and  put  them  all  to  death.  It  was  an  awful  punish- 
ment for  the  wickedness  of  that  country.  But  the 
Children  of  Israel  felt  there  was  only  one  thing  for 
them  to  do, — having  received  the  command,  they  had 
to  obey. 

Now,  it  so  happened  that  right  near  where  they  had 
crossed  the  River  Jordan,  and  where  the  memorial 
had  been  placed,  there  was  a  great  city,  which  was 
called  Jericho.  The  first  thing  Joshua  had  to  do, 
therefore,  was  to  conquer  the  city  of  Jericho.  And 
they  could  not  wait  long,  because  the  city  was  close 
by,  and  the  armies  from  Jericho  might  come  out  soon 
to  attack  them. 

Everything  now  depended  on  whether  the  people  of 
Israel  would  show  the  right  kind  of  courage.  A  good 
many  of  them  may  never  have  been  in  battle.  Some- 
times, too,  people  who  are  very  brave  in  the  face  of 
certain  dangers,  yet  lose  all  that  bravery  when  they 
become  very  much  excited.  Great  battles  in  history 
have  been  lost  just  in  this  way,  where  the  leaders  had 
supposed  that  the  soldiers  were  very  brave  indeed, 
,but  where  the  soldiers  "lost  their  heads,"  as  we  say, 
forgot  themselves  in  the  great  excitement,  and  before 
they  knew  it,  turned  about  and  ran  away. 

I  am  sure  that  Joshua  knew  all  about  this,  and 
feared  very  much  lest  the  Children  of  Israel  should 
act  in  this  way.  They  were  now  to  be  put  to  the  test. 
As  for  Joshua,  it  was  all  right  and  safe  enough  as 
far  as  he  was  concerned.  He  had  been  tried  in  the 
fire,  and  the  people  knew  that  his  courage  would  never 
fail  him. 

In  the  meantime,  the  army  belonging  to  the  city  of 
Jericho,  being  afraid  of  the  great  host  of  people  who 
had  just  crossed  the  Jordan,  had  retired  inside  the 
city.  In  those  days  all  the  great  cities  had  high  walls 
around  them.  We  do  not  build  such  walls  around  our 
cities  nowadays ;  but  Jericho  had  a  great  wall  of  this 
kind  all  around  it,  so  that  the  people  had  to  pass 
through  gates  in  the  wall  when  they  went  in  or  out  of 
the  city. 


CONQUERING  THE  LAND  OF  CANAAN. 

And  so  the  army  of  the  Israelites  came  up  to  the 
walls  of  Jericho  and  saw  the  gates  shut,  and  they 
began  to  wonder  how  they  would  conquer  the  city. 

But  one  thing  I  must  tell  you  about,  which  they 
did  just  before  they  came  up  to  the  gates  of  this  city. 
There  was  first  a  festival,  as  we  call  it,  which  they 
had  to  keep,  called  the  Festival  of  the  Passover.  It 
was  what  we  should  think  of  nowadays  as  a  sort  of 
memorial  day.  Moses  had  told  the  people  that  they 
should  set  aside  one  day  every  year  in  memory  of  the 
time  when  the  Children  of  Israel  escaped  from  the 
land  of  Egypt.  In  a  sense,  indeed,  the  Passover  was 
a  Memorial  Day  of  the  founding  of  the  nation  of  the 
Israelites. 

At  any  rate,  the  first  thing  they  did  after  cross- 
ing the  Jordan  was  to  keep  this  memorial  day  or  Pass- 
over. This  was  the  great  festival  which  was  kept 
through  coming  ages  by  the  Children  of  Israel.  Wher- 
ever they  might  be  in  the  world,  they  never  forgot 
their  Passover. 

Then,  too,  one  other  change  had  to  take  place  which 
was  very  important  to  them,  now  that  they  had  en- 
tered the  Land  of  Canaan.  Do  you  remember  what 
they  had  to  eat  for  the  most  part  during  all  those  years 
in  the  Wilderness?  "Manna,"  you  say?  Yes,  it  was 
manna;  but  it  seems  that  this  kind  of  food  was  only 
to  be  found  over  there  in  the  Wilderness.  Now  that 
the  people  had  entered  Canaan,  they  were  to  have  an- 
other kind  of  food,  and, 'as  we  are  told,  were  to  eat 
of  the  fruit  of  the  Land  of  Canaan.  Whether  they 
liked  this  change  or  not  I  do  not  know.  It  must  have 
seemed  a  little  peculiar  to  them  at  first,  because  they 
had  been  used  for  so  many  years  to  that  other  kind  of 
food.  But  this  change  must  have  made  them  feel  all 
the  more  strange  for  a  time,  in  the  new  country  to 
which  they  had  come. 

But  now  to  go  back  to  the  Children  of  Israel  before 
the  walls  of  Jericho.  The  question  was,  how  they 
were  to  conquer  the  city;  or,  rather,  I  fancy,  in  the 
mind  of  Joshua,  it  was  the  question  how  to  keep  up  the 
courage  of  the  Israelites ;  because,  I  suspect,  he  knew 


2O&  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE   STORIES. 

how  the  city  could  be  conquered,  if  only  he  could  feel 
perfectly  sure  of  the  people  themselves. 

But  it  seems  that  the  Great  Ruler  had  decided  to 
tell  Joshua  what  to  do.  And  it  came  to  pass  when 
Joshua  was  by  Jericho,  that  he  lifted  up  his  eyes  and 
looked,  and  behold  there  stood  a  man  over  against 
him,  with  his  sword  drawn  in  his  hand.  And  Joshua 
said  to  him :  "Art  thou  for  us,  or  for  our  enemies  ?" 
And  he  said:  "Nay,  but  as  captain  of  the  Host  of 
the  Lord  am  I  now  come." 

Then  Joshua  fell  on  his  face  to  the  earth,  and  said 
to  the  man :  "What  saith  the  Lord  unto  his  servant  ?" 
And  the  Captain  of  the  Host  of  the  Lord  said  unto 
Joshua:  "Put  off  thy  shoes  from  thy  feet;  for  the 
place  whereon  thou  standest  is  holy."  And  Joshua 
did  so. 

Then  the  man,  speaking  for  the  Lord,  said  unto 
Joshua:  "See,  I  have  given  unto  thy  hand  Jericho 
and  the  king  thereof,  and  the  mighty  men  of  valor. 
And  ye  shall  compass  the  city,  all  of  the  men  of  war 
going  about  the  city  once.  Thus  shalt  thou  do  six 
days.  And  the  seven  priests  shall  bear  the  ark,  with 
trumpets,  before  the  people.  And  the  seventh  day  ye 
shall  compass  the  city  seven  times,  and  the  priests 
shall  blow  with  the  trumpets.  And  it  shall  be,  that  when 
they  make  a  long  blast  with  the  trumpets,  and  when 
ye  shall  hear  the  sound  of  the  trumpet,  all  the  people 
shall  shout  with  a  great  shput,  and  the  people  shall 
go  up  and  conquer  the  city." 

I  suppose  Joshua  saw  what  all  this  meant.  It  may 
have  been  a  way  of  fostering  the  courage  of  the 
people,  so  that  by  the  time  the  seventh  day  would 
come  they  would  be  full  of  enthusiasm,  eager  at  last 
to  go  ahead  bravely  and  capture  Jericho. 

It  was  rather  an  odd  sort  of  a  thing  to  do,  this 
marching  solemnly  around  the  city  day  after  day,  in 
perfect  silence,  while  the  priests  went  before  carrying 
the  ark.  But  Joshua  knew  that  it  would  all  come  out 
right. 

He  called  the  priests  and  said  to  them :  "Take  up 
the  ark  and  let  seven  priests  bear  seven  trumpets  be- 


CONQUERING  THE  LAND  OF  CANAAN.  2OO, 

fore  the  ark."  And  it  was  so  that  when  Joshua  had 
spoken,  the  seven  priests  bearing  the  seven  trumpets 
passed  on  and  blew  the  trumpets;  and  the  ark  was 
carried  behind  them;  while  the  people  marched  with 
them  around  the  city.  Joshua  had  told  the  people, 
saying:  "Ye  shall  not  shout,  nor  let  your  voice  be 
heard,  neither  shall  any  word  proceed  out  of  your 
mouth  until  the  day  I  bid  you  shout,  then  shall  ye 
shout." 

Upon  the  second  day  they  compassed  the  city  once 
more,  and  again  on  the  third  day,  and  so  they  did  for 
six  days. 

It  must  have  been  a  splendid  discipline  for  those 
people,  to  go  marching  that  way  day  after  day,  walk- 
ing around  the  city,  without  saying  a  word.  This 
was  what  we  might  call  drill,  and  drill  of  a  very  hard 
kind.  People,  as  you  know,  in  their  excitement  like 
to  shout  and  make  a  noise;  but  sometimes  the  people 
that  do  the  most  shouting  make  the  poorest  fighters. 
A  man  cannot  be  a  good  soldier  until  he  has  learned 
what  we  speak  of  as  self-control. 

You  see,  Joshua  by  this  means  was  teaching  the  peo- 
ple self-control,  and  in  this  way  making  good  soldiers 
of  them.  I  fancy  they  would  have  enjoyed  that  march- 
ing around  the  city  immensely;  but  the  pleasure  of  it 
all  must  have  been  nearly  spoiled  for  them,  just  be- 
cause they  could  not  shout  or  make  a  noise. 

As  they  kept  on  day  after  day,  they  began  to  see, 
themselves,  how  much  more  firm  and  self-possessed 
they  were.  They  would  observe  how  they  could  trust 
themselves  better  because  they  were  getting  a  certain 
kind  of  control  over  themselves.  It  was  pretty  hard; 
but  as  they  began  to  see  the  reason  for  all  this,  it 
troubled  them  less.  They  knew  that  the  seven  days 
would  come  to  an  end  before  long.  I  can  fancy  Joshua 
each  day,  as  the  people  marched  by,  standing  there 
watching  their  faces,  to  note  whether  they  were  show- 
ing the  right  kind  of  spirit.  And  each  day  he  must 
have  felt  more  and  more  encouraged  by  the  firmness 
he  saw  in  their  faces,  and  the  brave,  manly  way  in 
which  they  walked  as  they  moved  by. 


210  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

At  the  end  of  the  six  days  Joshua  could  see  by  the 
look  on  the  faces  of  the  people  that  they  were  ready  for 
battle.  Now  he  understood  fully  what  good  there  was 
in  waiting  this  way  for  six  days. 

And  it  came  to  pass  on  the  seventh  day,  that  they 
arose  early  at  the  dawn  of  the  day,  and  compassed  the 
city  after  "the  same  manner  seven  times.  By  that  time, 
you  can  be  sure,  they  were  ready  to  shout.  They  had 
controlled  themselves  long  enough.  But  first  Joshua 
told  them  very  carefully  what  they  were  to  do.  It  was 
very  important  that  the  people  should  act  unselfishly, 
and  not  take  anything  which  they  might  find  for  them- 
selves. He  told  them  that  they  were  to  destroy  all  liv- 
ing people  in  the  city,  and  all  the  animals  in  the  city, 
save  just  one  family,  which  had  dealt  kindly  with  the 
messengers  or  spies,  sent  not  long  before  by  Joshua,  to 
find  out  about  the  country.  But  all  the  silver  and  gold 
and  everything  of  that  kind  was  to  be  kept  sacred  as 
something  for  the  Lord. 

Then  all  at  once,  as  the  Children  of  Israel  stood  there 
waiting  in  silence  after  they  had  compassed  the  city 
seven  times,  Joshua  said  unto  the  people:  "Shout." 
So  the  people  shouted,  and  the  priests  blew  the  trump- 
ets. It  must  have  been  a  tremendous  roar  of  sound,  all 
that  excitement  and  shouting  of  all  those  thousands  of 
thousands  of  people.  It  was  a  mighty  army  of  brave 
men.  And  when  they  shouted  with  a  great  shout  they 
went  bravely  ahead  and  conquered  the  city  of  Jericho. 
Just  how  it  all  happened  we  shall  never  know.  We  are 
told  that  the  walls  of  the  city  fell  down  as  if  of  them- 
selves, and  then  it  was  an  easy  matter  to  accomplish 
the  rest.  And  they  utterly  destroyed  all  that  was  in 
the  city,  both  men  and  women,  both  young  and  old,  and 
ox,  and  sheep,  and  ass,  with  edge  of  the  sword — 
save  just  the  one  family  I  have  told  you  about.  And 
they  burnt  the  city  with  fire  and  all  there  was  therein  ; 
only  the  silver  and  the  gold,  and  the  vessels  of  brass, 
and  of  iron,  they  saved  for  the  treasury  of  the  House 
of  the  Lord — because  I  suppose  they  hoped  ere  long 
to  build  a  temple  to  their  Lord,  where  they  could  use  all 
this  gold  and  silver. 


CONQUERING  THE  LAND  OF  CANAAN.  211 

Joshua's  mind  was  now  at  peace.  The  first  great 
victory  had  been  won,  and  the  pjeople  had  shown  them- 
selves brave  and  obedient  soldiers.  They  could  trust 
him;  and  now  he  felt  sure  that  he  could  trust  them 
likewise. 

Yet  it  was  no  easy  task  ahead.  This  first  victory 
around  Jericho  had  given  the  people  some  idea  of  how 
much  they  would  have  to  go  through  in  conquering  the 
land  of  Canaan.  There  were  a  number  of  great  cities 
in  that  country,  like  Jericho.  One  after  another  would 
have  to  be  conquered ;  and  they  saw  that  it  would  be  a 
long,  long  while  before  they  could  settle  down  and  feel 
at  home  there. 

I  suppose,  too,  they  must  have  found  it  a  very  pain- 
ful work.  There  is  something  cruel  and  sad  about  war 
of  any  kind,  even  where  the  war  may  be  just  and  right. 
It  is  something  awful  for  people  to  be  obliged  to  fight 
and  kill  each  other  in  this  way;  yet,  at  that  time,  the 
Israelites  had  to  do  it.  They  had  been  told  that  they 
must  put  to  death  all  those  wicked  people  whom  they 
found  in  the  Land  of  Canaan. 

To  THE  TEACHER  :  The  ethical  element  in  this  les- 
son is  not  very  striking.  But  the  feature  of  discipline 
could  be  talked  about,  as  most^  necessary  when  people 
have  anything  to  do  together.  Then,  too,  there  is  the 
point  about  self-control.  Allude  to  the  straightforward, 
soldierly  bearing  of  Joshua  in  the  way  he  conducted 
himself.  It  must  rest  with  the  teacher  to  decide  just 
how  far  the  supernatural  element  in  this  story  is  to  be 
introduced.  The  only  consideration  here  is  that  the 
more  this  special  side  is  dwelt  upon  in  the  account  the 
less  does  the  ethical  feature  appear. 

MEMORY  VERSE:  Ye  shall  not  shout,  nor  let  your 
voice  be  heard,  neither  shall  any  word  proceed  out  of 
your  mouth,  until  the  day  I  bid  you  shout,  then  shall  ye 
shout. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 
Wars  of  the  Israelites  in  Canaan. 

It  would  take  a  great  while  for  me  even  to  begin  to 
tell  you  all  that  the  Children  of  Israel  went  through 
now  for  a  number  of  years  in  trying  to  conquer  the 
land  of  Canaan.  There  were  a  great  many  people  living 
in  that  country — different  tribes  or  kingdoms  with 
large  cities,  and  kings  ruling  over  them.  Some  of  the 
people  were  men  of  great  height,  such  as  we  should 
now  call  giants.  Then,  too,  while  these  kings  and  peo- 
ple were  very  wicked  indeed,  they  were  great  fighters, 
and  gave  any  amount  of  trouble  to  the  Children  of 
Israel. 

The  story  of  the  Israelites  for  a  long  while  was 
therefore  one  of  war  and  strife,  while  they  went  on 
having  battles  with  one  tribe  after  another,  and  con- 
quering one  city  after  another. 

I  ought  perhaps  to  tell  you  about  one  sad  event 
which  took  place  not  long  after  they  had  set  out  to 
conquer  the  land.  You  see  while  they  were  pretty  good 
and  brave  at  the  outset,  and  obedient  for  the  most  part 
to  the  commands  of  Joshua,  yet  among  such  an  im- 
mense number  of  people  we  should  feel  pretty  sure 
that  there  would  be  some  not  quite  so  good  as  others ; 
some  here  and  there  who  could  not  quite  be  trusted. 
As  you  may  know,  there  are  persons  who  can  resist  a 
small  temptation,  but  cannot  stand  up  against  a 
temptation  that  is  very  great.  Just  in  the  same 
way  boys  or  girls  who  may  think  themselves  strong 
and  true  and  obedient,  yet  sometimes  when  a  tempta- 
tion is  great,  will  forget  themselves  and  disobey. 

It  called  for  a  great  deal  of  self-control  on  the  part 
212 


CONQUERING  THE  LAND  OF  CANAAN.  213 

of  everybody  in  that  great  army  always  to  do  just  as 
they  were  told,  and  never  in  any  way  to  break  the  rules 
laid  over  them.  There  was  one  great  temptation  which 
they  had  to  be  fighting  all  the  time.  As  they  went 
through  the  land  capturing  the  cities,  putting  the 
wicked  people  to  death  and  seizing  their  property,  now 
and  then  they  must  have  found  it  pretty  hard  not  to 
take  some  of  this  property  for  themselves.  They  had 
had  very  little  property  of  their  own  when  wandering 
in  the  Wilderness,  you  remember;  during  all  those 
years  they  had  had  a  hard  time  of  it.  Now  they  saw,  if 
only  they  could  keep  a  little  of  this  wealth  for  them- 
selves, which  they  were  taking  away  from  all  those 
wicked  people,  how  they  would  be  better  off  and  have 
money  so  as  to  buy  almost  anything  they  cared  for. 
People  do  like  to  have  money — especially  gold  and  sil- 
ver. And  it  seems  that  there  was  a  great  deal  of  this 
gold  and  silver  among  those  wicked  tribes  of  Canaan. 

But  for  a  time  the  Children  of  Israel  did  as  they 
were  commanded  to  do.  They  had  been  told  that  they 
must  keep  none  of  that  gold  and  silver,  or  any  other 
of  that  property  for  themselves;  whatever  they  took 
was  to  be  handed  over  to  Joshua,  and  not  to  belong  to 
them  personally  at  all. 

I  suppose  they  began  to  be  a  little  proud,  some  of 
them,  owing  to  their  victories  there  in  Canaan,  and 
to  the  way  they  were  conquering  the  country  and  cap- 
turing all  those  cities.  It  may  be  that  they  got  to 
boasting,  and  talked  quite  loudly  about  how  brave 
they  were.  But,  as  you  know,  there  is  nothing  much 
worse  than  pride  and  boasting.  It  makes  people  self- 
ish, and  it  makes  them  careless,  so  that  they  forget 
themselves,  lose  their  self-control,  and  do  what  they 
know  they  ought  not  to  do  and  what  they  would 
usually  be  ashamed  of  doing. 

After  the  Children  of  Israel  had  been  going  on  gain- 
ing one  victory  after  another,  suddenly,  in  one  battle, 
a  number  of  them  were  defeated.  It  seems  there  was 
a  city  called  Ai,  and  the  people  of  that  city  were  called 
the  people  of  Ai.  It  was  one  of  the  important  cities  of 
Canaan,  we  assume,  but  there  were  not  many  people 


214  THE   OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE   STORIES. 

living  in  it.  Those  who  had  been  sent  out  to  find 
about  the  country,  came  back  and  said  to  Joshua: 
"Let  not  all  the  people  go  up;  but  let  about  two  or 
three  thousand  men  go  up  and  smite  Ai ;  make  not  all 
the  people  to  toil  thither;  for  they  are  but  *ew." 

Joshua  thought  this  was  wise,  and  therefore  sent 
only  about  three  thousand  of  the  Israelites,  supposing 
that  they  would  be  able  to  capture  and  destroy  the  city 
of  Ai.  But  lo  and  behold,  it  turned  out  another  way ; 
instead  of  winning  the  battle  with  the  people  there, 
they  lost  it  and  were  driven  back,  and  a  number  of 
them  were  killed.  This  was  the  first  time  that  the 
Israelites  had  not  won  the  victory  since  they  entered 
the  Promised  Land. 

Now  the  secret  of  it  all  was  just  this :  I  will  tell 
you  about  it  in  advance,  so  that  you  can  understand 
why  it  happened.  One  of  those  men  I  have  mentioned, 
who  perhaps  had  been  proud  and  boastful,  and  who 
was  of  the  three  thousand  men  sent  against  Ai,  had 
found  some  money  there,  some  gold  and  silver,  and  a 
beautiful  mantle ;  then  instead  of  seizing  it  and  turning 
it  over  to  the  leader  to  be  given  to  Joshua,  he  kept  it 
for  himself.  The  temptation  had  been  great,  and  he 
had  given  in  to  it  and  broken  the  command  laid  upon 
him  as  well  as  upon  all  the  people.  I  fancy  that  many 
of  the  others  with  him  saw  him  do  it,  and  knew  that 
he  was  guilty ;  yet  instead  of  punishing  him,  or  warn- 
ing him  in  any  way,  they  just  overlooked  it,  perhaps 
with  the  feeling  that  if  he  should  not  be  punished,  by 
and  by  they  might  do  it  themselves. 

When  people  do  wrong,  however,  and  know  quite 
well  what  they  are  doing,  before  long  it  is  about  sure 
that  they  will  grow  uneasy.  There  is  nothing  that 
takes  away  a  man's  courage  so  much  as  being  ashamed 
over  something  he  has  done.  It  seems  to  take  all  the 
spirit  out  of  him,  so  that  he  hardly  knows  himself. 
Many  a  man  who  once  was  brave  and  strong,  after- 
wards just  because  of  such  a  feeling  of  shame  on  ac- 
count of  something  he  has  been  guilty  of,  finds  out 
that  his  courage  has  all  gone. 

This,  surely,  is  just  what  happened  to  those  three 


CONQUERING  THE  LAND  OF  CANAAN.  215 

thousand  men  who  went  up  to  capture  the  city  of  Ai. 
They  must  have  lost  their  courage,  because  they  felt 
ashamed  over  what  their  comrade  had  done,  or  be- 
cause they  had  allowed  him  to  do  it ;  and  this  sense  of 
shame  took  their  courage  all  away;  they  felt  so  mean 
about  it  all,  that  they  could  not  fight;  they  just  wanted 
to  turn  about  and  run.  And  that  is  what  they  did; 
instead  of  going  ahead  and  capturing  the  city,  they 
lost  heart  and  were  afraid;  so  that  when  the  men  of 
Ai  came  out  to  attack  them,  away  they  ran  for  their 
lives,  back  to  Joshua. 

We  cannot  help  feeling  the  greatest  pity  for  poor 
Joshua  at  this  moment.  He  had  been  so  brave  and 
true  as  a  leader,  and  had  trusted  the  people  so  fully; 
and  now  came  this  defeat,  and  he  did  not  know  what 
to  make  of  it.  At  first  he  blamed  himself,  as  many  a 
brave  good  man  will  do,  thinking  that  somehow  he 
must  have  done  wrong  or  been  guilty  in  some  way. 
At  once  he  noticed  how  all  the  rest  of  the  Children  of 
Israel  lost  heart  because  of  this  defeat.  As  we  are 
told :  'The  hearts  of  the  people  melted,  and  became 
as  water."  It  is  quite  certain  that  they  all  felt  that 
something  wrong  had  been  done,  although  most  of 
them  did  not  know  what  it  was.  But  their  first  thought 
now,  I  suppose,  was  to  fly  back  across  the  River  Jor- 
dan to  the  Wilderness,  out  of  which  they  had  come. 

And  Joshua,  as  we  are  told,  rent  his  clothes  and 
fell  to  the  earth  upon  his  face,  he  and  the  elders  of 
Israel ;  and  they  put  dust  upon  their  heads.  And  Joshua 
said  to  the  Lord,  the  Ruler  of  the  World:  "Alas! 
wherefore  hast  thou  brought  this  people  over  the  Jor- 
dan to  deliver  us  into  the  hand  of  the  wicked  tribes  of 
Canaan  to  cause  us  to  perish ;  would  that  we  had  been 
content  to  dwell  beyond  the  Jordan.  What  shall  I  say 
now  that  Israel  hath  turned  their  backs  before  their 
enemies  ?  for  the  Canaanites  and  all  the  inhabitants  of 
the  land  shall  hear  of  it,  and  shall  compass  us  around 
and  cut  off  our  name  from  the  earth." 

And  the  Lord  answered  Joshua  and  told  him  why 
all  this  had  happened,  saying :  "Get  thee  up,  wherefore 
art  thou  thus  fallen  upon  thy  face?  Israel  hath  done 


£l  THE   OLD  TESTAMENT    BIBLE   STORIES. 

wrong;  they  have  broken  my  command;  they  have 
taken  silver  and  gold  and  kept  it  for  themselves. 
Therefore  the  Children  of  Israel  are  turned  cowards, 
and  cannot  stand  before  their  enemies.  I  will  not  be 
with  you  any  more  except  ye  destroy  the  guilty  one." 

If  Joshua  was  sad  before,  I  suppose  he  was  still 
more  sad  now ;  it  was  the  first  blow  to  come  to  him, 
the  first  time  he  had  heard  of  the  Children  of  Israel 
breaking  the  commands  which  had  been  given  to  them. 
His  heart  sank  within  him.  It  was  bad  enough  for 
him  to  feel  that  the  people  had  lost  their  courage,  but 
still  worse  for  him  to  know  that  one  or  more  of  them 
had  been  guilty  of  evil. 

But  there  was  only  one  thing  for  him  to  do.  He 
was  the  leader  and  ruler.  He  had  to  find  the  guilty 
one  and  have  him  punished.  It  was  like  punishing 
some  one  belonging  to  his  own  family.  You  know 
how  hard  it  is  sometimes  for  fathers  and  mothers  to 
punish  their  own  children,  even  when  they  know  that 
their  children  deserve  it.  And  that  is  just  about  the 
way  Joshua  felt,  now  that  he  had  to  punish  the  guilty 
one  of  the  Children  of  Israel.  The  Great  Ruler  had  told 
him  how  to  find  out  the  man  who  was  guilty;  and 
so  he  called  all  the  tribes  together,  and  singled  out  the 
tribe  to  which  the  guilty  man  belonged,  and  then  he 
found  the  family  in  that  tribe,  of  which  this  man  was 
a  member;  and  he  looked  them  over,  one  face  after 
another,  until  he  saw  a  guilty  look  in  the  eye  of  a  man 
whose  name  was  Achan.  Already,  I  am  sure  that  the 
man  felt  ashamed,  and  was  only  too  anxious  to  confess 
the  evil  conduct  he  had  been  giuilty  of. 

And  Joshua  looked  Achan  in  the  face  and  said: 
"My  son,  make  now  confession,  and  tell  me  what  thou 
hast  done.  Hide  it  not  from  me." 

It  was  an  awful  moment  in  the  history  of  the  Chil- 
dren of  Israel,  the  first  time  since  they  had  crossed  the 
Jordan  that  one  of  their  number  had  to  be  punished 
for  a  crime.  They  felt  somehow  that  a  shame  had 
come  upon  them  all ;  as  if,  in  a  way,  they  were  all  to 
blame;  and  Achan  himself  knew  that  he  had  brought 
shame  on  all  the  Children  of  Israel,  and  he  wanted 
to  .eo  away  and  hide. 


CONQUERING  THE  LAND  OF  CANAAN.  217 

But  he  stepped  forward,  glad  enough  to  have  the 
chance  to  confess  his  wickedness,  saying:  "Of  a 
truth  I  have  sinned,  and  thus  and  thus  have  I  done. 
When  I  saw  among  the  spoil  'a  goodly  mantle,  and 
two  hundred  shekels  of  silver,  and  a  wedge  of  gold  of 
fifty  shekels  weight,  then  I  coveted  them,  and  took 
them!  and  behold  they  are  hid  in  the  earth  in  the 
midst  of  my  tent,  and  the  silver  under  it." 

You  see,  this  man  had  broken  the  tenth  command- 
ment; he  had  been  guilty  of  covetousness,  and  that 
had  led  him  to  stealing,  or  taking  this  property  which 
had  not  belonged  to  him. 

Joshua  at  once  sent  messengers,  and  they  ran  into 
the  tent  of  Achan ;  and  behold  it  was  hid  in  his  tent, 
and  the  silver  under  it ;  and  they  took  the  stolen  goods 
from  the  midst  of  the  tent,  and  brought  them  unto 
Joshua.  And  now  Joshua  had  to  be  the  judge  and 
pronounce  the  punishment  of  death  for  this  awful 
crime.  And  he  said  to  Achan :  "Why  hast  thou  trou- 
bled us.  The  Lord  Over  All  shall  trouble  thee  this 
day."  And  then  they  took  him  outside  the  camp  and 
stoned  him  with  stones  until  he  died,  and  his  body  was 
burned  with  fire.  And  they  raised  over  his  body  a 
great  heap  of  stones  to  mark  the  spot,  so  that  in  fu- 
ture times  when  people  came  there  they  should  re- 
member the  crime  of  Achan,  and  how  it  had  been  pun- 
ished. 

I  doubt  whether  Joshua  was  ever  quite  the  same 
happy  man  again  that  he  had  been  before.  He  went  or 
bravely  leading  the  people ;  but  there  was  this  sad  ache 
in  his  heart,  in  knowing  that  one  of  the  Children  of 
Israel  had  been  guilty  of  a  crime,  and  feeling  now  not 
quite  sure  whether  all  the  people  could  be  trusted  in 
the  way  he  had  once  trusted  them.  It  shows  how  the 
evil  deed  of  one  man  can  injure  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands. Now  that  Achan  had  been  guilty  of  this  crime, 
he  had  set  an  example  which  others  might  follow,  in 
spite  of  the  awful  punishment  put  upon  him. 

But  for  the  time  being  Joshua  and  the  people  had 
done  the  best  they  knew  how;  they  had  made  the 
guilty  man  confess  his  crime,  and  they  had  punished 


2l8  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE   STORIES. 

him  for  it.  Then  their  courage  came  back,  and  they 
went  and  conquered  the  city  of  Ai.  And  when  the 
men  of  Ai  looked  from  their  camp,  where  they  were 
waiting  to  give  battle,  they  saw  and  behold  the  smoke 
of  their  city  ascended  up  to  heaven. 

To  THE  TEACHER:  There  is  opportunity  in  this  les- 
son to  talk  over  the  general  subject  of  Temptation 
and  why  it  is  that  people  give  in  to  it.  Some  of  the 
motives  or  reasons  leading  people  to  give  way  in  this 
manner  could  be  dwelt  upon,  especially  pride  or  self- 
assurance.  Touch  upon  the  blow  which  this  experience 
gave  to  Joshua,  and  how  it  must  have  stunned  him; 
how,  too,  the  rest  of  the  people  must  have  felt  in  the 
shame  which  was  brought  upon  them  all,  as  if  some- 
how they  had  all  been  guilty.  Point  out  the  mean  ele- 
ment of  selfishness  in  Achan  and  how  he  must  have 
despised  himself  when  he  came  to  think  it  all  over. 
On  the  other  hand,  in  these  lessons  it  would  be  better 
not  to  say  too  much  about  the  slaughtering  of  the 
Canaanites,  as  it  presents  a  sad  and  gruesome  picture. 

MEMORY  VERSES  :  The  hearts  of  the  people  melted 
and  became  as  water. 

My  son,  make  now  confession,  and  tell  me  what 
thou  hast  done.  Hide  it  not  from  me. 

Why  hast  thou  troubled  us?  The  Lord  shall  trouble 
thee  this  day. 

Of  a  truth  I  have  sinned  against  the  Lord  and  thus 
and  thus  have  I  done. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 
The  Last  Days  of  Joshua. 

We  do  not  know  just  how  long  Joshua  went  on  as  a 
leader  of  the  people,  conquering  the  land  of  Canaan. 
As  I  have  already  said  to  you,  it  must  have  been  a 
great  while.  One  city  after  another  was  seized  and 
destroyed;  one  king  after  another,  defeated  and  put 
to  death. 

You  may  like  to  know  about  the  way  Joshua  cap- 
tured five  of  those  kings  in  this  land  of  Canaan.  They 
had  quite  a  large  army,  and  I  am  sure  that  if  Joshua 
had  been  at  all  given  to  fear  he  would  have  lost  his 
courage  before  them.  But  the  Great  Ruler  said  to 
Joshua:  "There  shall  not  be  a  man  of  them  to  stand 
before  thee." 

It  was  a  great  battle  which  he  had  to  fight  with  the 
army  of  those  five  kings,  lasting  far  into  the  night. 
But  in  the  end  Joshua  won  the  victory.  The  kings, 
themselves,  however,  managed  somehow  to  escape, 
and  Joshua  had  to  pursue  them  and  capture  them.  As 
we  are  told,  those  five  kings  fled  and  hid  themselves 
in  a  cave  at  Makkedah.  And  it  was  told  Joshua,  say- 
ing :  "The  five  kings  are  found  hidden  in  the  cave  at 
Makkedah."  And  Joshua  said:  "Roll  great  stones 
unto  the  mouth  of  the  cave,  and  set  men  by  it  for  to 
keep  them.  But  stay  not  yet;  pursue  after  your  en- 
emies and  smite  them." 

And  it  came  to  pass,  when  Joshua  and  the  Children 
of  Israel  had  made  an  end  of  slaying  their  enemies, 
that  all  the  people  returned  to  the  camp  at  Makkedah, 
Then  Joshua  said :  "Open  the  mouth  of  the  cave  and 
bring  forth  these  five  kings  out  of  the  mouth  of  the 
cave."  And  they  did  so,  and  brought  forth  those  five 

219 


22O  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT    BIBLE   STORIES. 

kings  out  of  the  cave.  And  when  they  had  brought 
forth  those  kings  unto  Joshua,  Joshua  called  for  all  the 
men  of  Israel,  and  said  unto  the  chiefs  of  the  men  of 
war  which  went  with  him:  "Come  near,  put  your  feet 
upon  the  necks  of  these  kings."  And  they  came  near 
and  put  their  feet  upon  the  necks  of  them,  and  Joshua 
said:  "Fear  not,  nor  be  dismayed;  be  strong  and  of 
good  courage ;  for  thus  shall  it  be  done  to  all  your  ene- 
mies against  whom  you  fight."  Then  they  smote  those 
kings  and  put  them  to  death,  according  to  the  com- 
mand they  had  received. 

Joshua  was  now  quite  an  old  man;  he  had  indeed 
been  much  younger  when  he  had  led  the  people  over 
the  Jordan  into  the  Promised  Land.  The  Children  of 
Israel  had  now  conquered  a  great  part  of  Canaan,  if 
not,  indeed,  the  whole  of  it.  As  we  are  told:  "The 
Lord  gave  unto  Israel  all  the  land  which  he  promised 
to  give  unto  their  fathers ;  and  they  possessed  it  and 
dwelt  therein,  and  the  Lord  gave  them  rest  round 
about  according  to  all  that  he  had  promised  unto  their 
fathers ;  and  there  stood  not  a  man  of  all  their  enemies 
before  them.  There  failed  not  aught  of  any  good 
thing  which  the  Lord  had  promised  unto  the  house  of 
Israel ;  all  came  to  pass." 

Yet  for  some  reason,  while  they  had  conquered  the 
land,  they  had  not  destroyed  all  the  kings  or  people 
there.  It  may  be  that  they  grew  tired,  or  that  they 
felt  somehow  as  if  it  were  too  much  for  them  to  do  in 
a  few  years.  It  may  be  that  the  Great  Ruler  himself 
had  pity  on  Joshua,  because  Joshua  was  such  an  old 
man.  He  may  have  told  the  Children  of  Israel  that 
for  a  time  they  could  wait  before  going  on  destroying 
the  inhabitants  of  Canaan.  But,  at  any  rate,  they  had 
done  a  great  deal,  and  now  possessed  a  large  propor- 
tion of  the  Promised  Land. 

You  remember,  however,  that  two  or  three  of  the 
tribes  had  left  their  wives  and  children,  and  flocks  and 
herds,  back  on  the  other  side  of  the  Jordan,  where  they 
were  to  return  after  they  had  helped  the  rest  of  the 
Children  of  Israel  to  conquer  the  land  of  Canaan.  They 
had  been  brave  and  unselfish  and  followed  Joshua, 


CONQUERING  THE  LAND  OF  CANAAN.  221 

fighting  the  wicked  Canaanites;  and  now  Joshua  felt 
that  it  was  right  that  they  should  go  back  to  their 
wives  and  children.  So  Joshua  called  them  together 
and  said  to  them :  "Ye  have  hearkened  to  my  voice  in 
all  that  I  commanded  you ;  ye  have  not  left  your  breth- 
ren these  many  days  unto  this  day.  And  now  the  Lord 
hath  given  rest  unto  your  brethren.  Therefore  now 
turn  ye  and  get  you  into  your  tents  beyond  Jordan. 
Only  take  diligent  heed  to  obey  the  commandment 
and  the  law  which  Moses  gave." 

So  Joshua  blessed  them  and  sent  them  away,  and 
they  departed  to  go  back  across  the  River  Jordan. 

In  the  meantime  the  land  had  to  be  divided  up  be- 
tween the  different  tribes  of  Israel.  This  was  no  easy 
task  for  Joshua.  But  it  was  done  by  lot.  The  land 
was  marked  out  in  portions,  and  then  each  tribe  drew 
by  lot  one  of  these  portions,  and  went  and  settled  there. 

It  may  be  that  by  this  time  peace  had  come  back  to 
the  heart  of  brave  old  Joshua,  in  spite  of  that  crime 
which  Achan  had  been  guilty  of  when  they  were  first 
conquering  the  land  of  Canaan.  He  had  led  the  people 
into  the  Promised  Land,  until  they  had  conquered  and 
possessed  it ;  and  now  in  his  old  age  he  saw  the  tribes 
settling  down  there,  and  making  a  home  for  them- 
selves. He  knew  that  the  time  had  come  for  him  to 
die.  As  we  are  told :  Joshua  was  old,  and  well  stricken 
in  years.  And  he  called  for  the  elders  of  Israel,  and 
for  their  judges,  and  for  their  officers,  and  said  unto 
them :  "I  am  old  and  well  stricken  in  years.  Behold 
this  day  I  am  going  the  way  of  all  the  earth.  And  ye 
know  in  all  your  hearts,  and  in  all  your  souls,  that  not 
one  thing  hath  failed  of  all  the  good  things  which  the 
Lord  spake  concerning  you ;  all  are  come  to  pass  unto 
you,  not  one  thing  hath  failed  thereof.  Now  therefore 
fear  the  Lord  and  serve  him  in  sincerity  and  truth. 
Choose  ye  this  day  whom  ye  will  serve.  As  for  me 
and  my  house,  we  will  serve  the  Lord.  But  if  ye  for- 
sake the  Lord,  then  he  will  turn  and  punish  you." 

And  the  people  said  unto  Joshua:  "Nay,  but  we 
will  serve  the  Lord." 

And  Joshua  took  a  great  stone  and  set  it  up  there 
under  an  oak  tree,  and  he  said  to  the  people:  "Behold 


222  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

this  stone  shall  be  a  witness  of  what  ye  have  prom- 
ised." 

You  see,  the  one  thing  Joshua  feared  was  that  after 
he  was  gone  the  Children  of  Israel  might  come  to 
serve  the  wicked  deities  of  the  people  who  had  been 
there  in  Canaan.  He  wanted  that  they  should  keep 
the  commands  that  Moses  had  given  them  in  the  Wil- 
derness. But  he  knew  how  the  Children  of  Israel  long 
years  before  had  made  that  golden  calf  at  Mount  Sinai, 
and  worshiped  an  idol,  falling  into  the  worst  kind  of 
superstitions ;  and  he  knew  that  the  people  of  Canaan 
also  worshiped  idols,  mere  images  of  wood  and  stone, 
and  that  they  had  wicked  customs  which  he  did  not 
want  that  the  Children  of  Israel  should  follow;  and 
that  was  why  he  made  this  last  plea  to  them,  saying: 
"Choose  ye  this  day  whom  ye  will  serve." 

And  then  Joshua  died,  being  an  hundred  and  ten 
years  old.  He  had  fought  a  good  fight,  and  lived 
bravely  and  well.  And  the  Children  of  Israel  never 
forgot  what  he  had  done  for  them  in  leading  them  into 
the  Promised  Land. 

To  THE  TEACHER  :  As  we  go  on  in  these  stories  it 
would  be  well  to  fix  in  the  mind  of  the  children  the 
names  of  the  great  leaders  and  prominent  characters 
we  have  come  upon.  At  this  point  a  list  of  these  might 
be  read  out  and  the  names  written  on  the  blackboard, 
beginning  with  Abraham  and  continuing  down  to 
Joshua — so  that  each  name  shall  mean  something  to 
the  young  people  all  their  lives.  The  charge  of 
Joshua  should  be  committed  to  memory  with  much 
emphasis  on  the  phrase:  "Choose  ye  whom  ye  will 
serve."  A  picture  might  be  shown  of  Joshua  from 
Sargent's  "Prophets"  in  the  Boston  Public  Library. 

MEMORY  VERSES  :  There  shall  not  be  a  man  of  them 
to  stand  before  thee.  Fear  not,  or  be  dismayed;  be 
strong  and  of  good  courage;  for  thus  shall  it  be  done 
to  all  your  enemies  against  whom  ye  fight. 

Now  therefore  fear  the  Lord  and  serve  him  in  sin- 
cerity and  truth.  Choose  ye  this  day  whom  ye  will 
serve.  As  for  me  and  my  house,  we  will  serve  the 
Lord. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 
The  Story  of  Samson. 

After  Joshua's  death  the  Children  of  Israel  settled 
down  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  each  tribe  in  that  part  of 
the  country  which  it  had  received  by  lot.  And  I  sup- 
pose they  hoped  to  go  on  now  for  hundreds  of  years, 
having  a  happy  time  of  it,  in  possession  of  this  Prom- 
ised Land.  The  tribes  who  were  to  live  on  the  other 
side  of  Jordan  had  gone  back  to  their  homes. 

And  now,  for  the  first  time,  there  was  peace  in  the 
land  of  Canaan.  There  was  no  talk  of  war;  fathers 
did  not  have  to  leave  their  wives  and  children,  or  their 
happy  homes,  in  order  to  go  out  and  be  soldiers ;  they 
could  stay  and  work  near  their  families,  and  help  to 
bring  up  and  educate  their  boys  and  girls,  and  take 
care  of  the  home.  They  began  to  have  cities  of  their 
own  here  and  there  in  Canaan,  and  to  have  the  feeling 
now  that  they  really  owned  the  country. 

They  had  been  so  successful  in  conquering  the  other 
tribes  of  people  in  that  land,  and  in  seizing  the  cities 
they  found  there,  that  for  a  long  time  the  people  who 
had  been  living  in  Canaan  dared  not  do  anything  to 
defend  themselves.  But  they  had  not  all  been  killed 
off,  those  wicked  people  I  have  told  you  about.  Per- 
haps they  just  lived  on,  keeping  themselves  out  of 
sight  as  much  as  possible;  and  the  Children  of  Israel 
may  have  thought  that  there  never  would  be  any  more 
trouble  over  those  conquered  tribes  of  Canaanites. 
They  felt  themselves  quite  above  all  those  evil  people, 
— and  rightly  so,  because  they  had  better  habits,  and 
were  a  better  people. 

But  the  time  came  by  and  by  when  the  Canaanites 
began  to  grow  in  numbers  again,  and  to  be  more  im- 

223 


224  THE   0LD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE   STORIES. 

portant ;  they  had  kept  quiet  for  a  long  while,  but  now 
they  were  much  stronger  and  so  they  set  out  to  attack 
the  Israelites  and  make  war  upon  them  in  order  to  get 
possession  of  their  country  again.  This  was  something 
very  surprising  to  the  Children  of  Israel,  which  they 
had  not  expected  at  all,  and  they  hardly  knew  what  to 
make  of  it.  Then,  too,  they  had  no  great  leader  at  this 
time.  Joshua  had  not  named  any  one  to  take  his  place, 
in  the  way  that  Moses  had  named  Joshua  to  be  the 
leader  of  the  Children  of  Israel.  Each  tribe  went  on 
managing  its  own  affairs  in  its  own  way.  The  people 
got  along  for  a  time  without  any  general  form  of  gov- 
ernment such  as  we  have  nowadays;  they  were  held 
together  because  they  were  of  one  race,  speaking  one 
language ;  also  because  of  the  memory  of  former  times, 
and  of  former  leaders,  Moses  and  Joshua,  and  of  their 
forefathers,  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob. 

Now,  however,  when  the  Canaanites  began  to  show 
their  strength  once  more,  and  to  make  war  on  the  Chil- 
dren of  Israel,  of  course  the  Israelites  felt  the  need  of 
some  kind  of  government.  But  as  they  had  no  one 
leader,  they  did  the  best  they  could  in  fighting  their 
enemies,  especially  those  Canaanites  who  were  called 
the  Philistines.  From  time  to  time  one  or  another 
man  would  rise  up  unusually  brave  and  strong,  and 
help  one  or  more  of  the  tribes  in  fighting  these  Philis- 
tines, or  the  Canaanites.  But  the  fact  is,  they  were 
getting  the  worst  of  it. 

What  is  more,  they  had  begun  to  have  some  of  the 
bad  ways  of  the  Canaanites;  at  times  forgetting  their 
Great  Ruler,  and  even  worshiping  the  idols  of  the  peo- 
ple of  Canaan.  This  was  something  very  bad,  indeed, 
so  that  we  feel  they  deserved  punishment,  and  they  got 
it  more  and  more. 

Now  I  have  to  tell  you  a  story  about  one  of  the  lead- 
ers who  rose  up  in  those  days  among-  the  Children  of 
Israel  and  helped  them  very  much  in  fighting  the  Phil- 
istines. This  man  was  considered  to  be  the  strongest 
man  who  ever  nved,  and  his  name  was  Samson. 

There  was  a  certain  man  of  the  family  of  the  Dan- 
ites  whose  name  was  Manoah.  He  and  his  wife  had 


CONQUERING  f  HE  LAND  OF  CANAAN.  22$ 

not  had  any  children,  but  wanted  very  much  to  have  a 
little  son  or  daughter.  At  last,  we  are  told,  a  messenger 
came  from  the  Lord,  and  said  to  Manoah's  wife  that 
she  should  have  a  son,  but  warned  her  that  she  should 
make  of  him  what  was  called  a  Nazarite,  meaning  by 
this  that  in  some  special  way  he  should  be  a  servant  of 
the  Lord. 

When  Manoah  heard  about  this  he  did  not  know 
what  to  think.  He  wanted  very  much  to  meet  this  mes- 
senger himself.  And  one  day  the  messenger  came  to 
the  wife  as  she  was  out  in  the  field,  when  Manoah,  her 
husband,  was  not  with  her,  and  the  woman  made  haste 
and  ran  and  told  her  husband,  and  said  unto  him: 
"Behold,  the  man  has  appeared  unto  me  that  came  unto 
me  the  other  day."  And  Manoah  rose  and  went  after 
his  wife,  and  came  to  the  man  and  said  unto  him: 
"Art  thou  the  man  that  spakest  unto  the  woman?" 
And  he  said :  "I  am."  And  Manoah  said :  "Now  let 
thy  words  come  to  pass ;  what  shall  be  the  manner  of 
the  child,  and  what  shall  be  his  work  ?"  And  the  mes- 
senger said  unto  Manoah  about  the  same  that  he  had 
said  to  Manoah's  wife  when  he  first  came  to  her. 

Manoah  and  his  wife  now  felt  pleased  and  glad  to 
think  that  they  should  have  a  son.  By  and  by  the  child 
came  to  them,  and  they  called  his  name  Samson.  We 
do  not  hear  very  much  about  him  when  he  was  a  boy ; 
but  I  am  sure  that  he  must  have  been  very  strong,  and 
oftentimes  surprised  his  father  and  mother  with  what 
he  could  do  in  this  way.  No  other  boys  of  his  age  could 
have  shown  the  same  amount  of  strength.  In  fact,  even 
at  that  time  he  must  have  been  stronger  than  his  own 
father.  I  have  no  doubt  that  Manoah  was  glad  to 
think  of  all  this,  because  he  could  feel  that  his  boy 
might  grow  up  and  become  a  leader  among  the  Israel 
ites,  and  help  them  in  their  battles  with  the  Philistines. 
And  this  is  just  what  happened.  When  Samson  was 
grown  up,  as  I  have  told  you,  he  had  enormous 
strength,  such  as  no  man  living  nowadays  could  ever 
show.  Even  wild  animals,  such  as  lions  or  tigers,  must 
have  been  afraid  of  him,  while  he  had  no  fear  of  them, 
for  he  was  stronger  than  any  lion  or  tiger. 


226  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

One  time,  for  instance,  he  was  on  his  way  down  to 
the  Philistines,  and  he  met  a  young  lion,  and  behold ! 
the  young  lion  roared  against  him.  Perhaps  not  an- 
other man  in  all  the  land  of  Canaan  but  would  have 
stood  still  or  tried  to  run  away;  even  the  giants  of 
those  days  would  have  been  afraid.  But  not  so  with 
Samson;  he  rushed  boldly  at  the  lion,  seized  him  by 
the  jaws  and  tore  him  to  pieces,  although  he  had  noth- 
ing in  his  hand. 

Sometime  later  on,  when  he  was  passing  that  way, 
he  noticed  the  body  of  the  lion  which  he  had  killed ;  and 
behold !  there  was  a  swarm  of  bees  in  the  body  of  the 
lion  and  honey ;  and  he  took  it  in  his  hand  and  went  on, 
eating  as  he  went. 

When,  therefore,  he  came  to  the  Philistines  he  said 
to  them :  "Let  me  now  put  forth  a  riddle  unto  you.  If 
ye  can  declare  it  unto  me  within  seven  days  and  find 
out,  I  will  give  you  thirty  linen  garments  and  thirty 
changes  of  raiment.  But  if  ye  cannot  declare  it  unto  me, 
then  shall  ye  give  me  thirty  linen  garments  and  thirty 
changes  of  raiment."  And  they  said  unto  him :  "Put 
forth  thy  riddle  that  we  may  hear  it."  And  he  said 
unto  them :  "Out  of  the  eater  came  forth  meat,  and 
out  of  the  strong  came  forth  sweetness."  This  is  the 
riddle,  you  see,  which  they  were  to  explain. 

Samson  smiled  to  himself,  because  he  knew  that  they 
would  never  be  able  to  declare  the  riddle ;  he  was  the 
only  one  who  knew  anything  about  how  he  had  killed 
the  lion  and  afterward  found  bees  and  honey  in  the 
body  of  the  lion.  Samson  appears  at  first  to  have  been 
a  modest  man,  not  given  to  boasting,  and  he  had  not 
talked  about  his  brave  deed. 

But  I  shall  have  to  tell  you  of  one  weakness  of  this 
man  Samson.  It  sometimes  happens,  you  know,  that 
there  are  people  who  are  very  strong  with  their  bodies 
and  yet  do  not  have  strong  minds.  They  may  be  able 
to  do  wonderful  things  with  their  arms  and  to  aston- 
ish everybody  with  their  feats  of  strength.  On  the 
other  hand,  they  may  not  have  self-control  and  be  able 
to  resist  temptation,  so  as  to  refuse  to  do  what  they 
have  made  up  their  minds  they  will  not  do.  You  will 


CONQUERING  THE  LAND  OF  CANAAN.  227 

observe  this  in  boys  sometimes.  You  may  see  the 
strongest  boys,  in  the  presence  of  whom  even  larger 
boys  than  themselves  are  afraid ;  yet  they  will  disobey 
or  do  things  which  they  know  they  will  be  ashamed  of 
afterward. 

Every  one  who  is  grown  up  will  understand  how  im- 
portant it  is  to  be  strong  in  one's  mind  as  well  as  in 
one's  body;  and  how  it  may  be  of  little  use  to  a  man 
to  have  the  strength  in  his  arms  if  he  has  not  that 
strength  of  mind  so  that  he  can  keep  his  good  resolu- 
tions. 

Now  we  shall  see  how  Samson  had  only  the  one 
kind  of  strength,  and  every  now  and  then  would  fail  to 
keep  the  resolutions  he  had  made.  You  see  he  was 
strong  only  on  one  side. 

We  shall  notice  now  what  took  place  owing  to  this 
lack  of  strength  of  mind  on  the  part  of  Samson  in 
his  dealings  with  the  Philistines,  to  whom  he  had  pro- 
posed this  riddle.  I  suppose  he  was  planning  to  help 
the  Israelites  against  them,  and  this  was  the  first  step 
he  was  taking  for  that  purpose. 

But  the  Philistines  went  to  Samson's  wife  and 
threatened  her,  saying:  "Entice  thy  husband  that  he 
may  declare  unto  us  the  riddle,  lest  we  burn  thee  and 
thy  father's  house  with  fire." 

I  am  sorry  to  say  Samson  did  not  have  a  good  wife. 
She  was  vain,  and  she  wanted  to  be  able  to  declare  this 
riddle.  She  knew  that  she  ought  not  to  ask  this  of 
Samson,  because  her  husband  had  a  very  important 
reason  for  not  explaining  what  he  was  doing.  But 
she  wept  before  him  and  would  not  be  comforted,  say- 
ing :  "Thou  lovest  me  not ;  thou  hast  put  forth  a  riddle, 
and  hast  not  told  it  to  me."  And  he  said  manfully: 
"Behold,  I  have  not  told  it  to  my  father  and  mother, 
and  shall  I  tell  it  to  thee  ?"  And  she  pleaded  with  him 
for  seven  days,  until  finally  it  came  to  pass  on  the  sev- 
enth day  that  he  yielded,  although  he  knew  that  he 
ought  not  to  do  so.  Then  she  told  the  answer  to 
the  riddle  to  the  Philistines. 

And  so,  on  the  seventh  day,  the  Philistines  came  to 
him  with  their  answer,  in  these  words:  "What  is 
sweeter  than  honey,  and  what  is  stronger  than  a  lion  ?" 


228  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

I  am  sure  that  Samson  felt  heartily  ashamed  of  him- 
self, because  he  knew  that  he  had  been  weak  and  had 
broken  his  resolution.  But  he  was  determined  to  punish 
the  Philistines.  And  so,  later  on,  we  are  told  how  he 
went  and  caught  three  hundred  foxes  and  took  fire- 
brands and  turned  the  foxes  tail  to  tail,  and  put  a  fire- 
brand in  the  midst,  between  every  two  tails,  and  when 
he  had  set  the  brands  on  fire  he  let  the  foxes  go  into  the 
standing  corn  of  the  Philistines  and  burned  up  the 
standing  corn  and  also  the  olive  yards.  This  was  the 
beginning  of  the  effort  Samson  was  making  to  attack 
trie  Philistines,  and  in  that  way  trying  to  help  the 
Israelites  against  them. 

<To  THE  TEACHER  :  The  story  of  Samson  exactly  as 
it  stands,  may  not  seem  to  have  an  ethical  element  in  it 
As  a  man  he  was  rather  to  be  despised  than  admired. 
But  in  this  very  fact  is  the  lesson  to  be  drawn — how 
a  man  because  he  is  weak  morally  may  squander  mag- 
nificent resources  instead  of  using  them  for  good  pur- 
poses. One  can  picture  the  amount  of  service  which 
this  man  could  have  done  for  his  people  with  his  enor- 
mous strength,  if  it  had  not  been  mere  brute  strength, 
but  had  been  accompanied  with  strength  of  mind  or 
self-control.  It  can  be  shown  how  this  weakness  made 
Samson  just  about  as  bad  morally  as  the  Philistines 
themselves.  Point  out,  for  instance,  when  he  sought 
to  punish  the  Philistines ;  how  it  was  more  out  of  de- 
sire for  revenge  than  for  the  purpose  of  helping  his 
people.  One  may  pity  Samson,  but  not  admire  him. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 
The  End  of  the  Career  of  Samson. 

You  can  take  it  for  granted  when  the  Philistines 
heard  how  Samson  had  killed  that  lion  with  his  own 
hands  and  also  found  how  he  had  caught  the  three  hun- 
dred foxes  and  burned  their  corn,  that  they  had  made 
up  their  minds  that  they  must  seize  him  and  put 
him  to  death  if  possible. 

Then  the  Philistines  went  up  and  pitched  in  Judah. 
And  the  men  of  Judah  said:  "Why  are  ye  come  up 
against  us?"  And  they  said:  "To  bind  Samson  have 
we  come  up;  to  do  to  him  as  he  has  done  to  us."  It 
seems  that  he  had  already  defeated  a  great  number  of 
the  Philistines  in  battle,  smiting  them  with  very  great 
slaughter.  Then  three  thousand  men  of  Judah  went 
and  found  Samson  and  said  to  him :  "Knowest  thou 
not  that  the  Philistines  are  rulers  over  us  ?  What,  then, 
is  this  that  thou  hast  done  ?  We  are  come  to  bind  thee 
that  we  may  deliver  thee  into  the  hands  of  the  Philis- 
tines." 

This  was  anything  but  brave  on  the  part  of  the  peo- 
ple of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  showing  how  cowardly 
they  had  become,  and  how  much  they  were  in  need  of 
a  leader  if  ever  they  were  to  conquer  the  Philistines. 
One  cannot  help  thinking  of  the  good  old  times,  when 
all  the  Israelites  had  fought  bravely  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Joshua. 

But  Samson  said  unto  them :  "Promise?  me  that  ye 
will  not  put  me  to  death."  And  they  spake  unto  him, 
saying:  "No,  but  we  will  bind  thee  fast  and  deliver 
thee  into  their  hands,  but  surely  we  will  not  kill  thee." 
And  they  bound  him  with  two  new  ropes  and  brought 
him  to  the  Philistines. 

229 


230  THE   OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

When  the  Philistines  saw  him  bound,  they  shouted 
as  they  met  him.  Yet  Samson  knew  what  he  was 
doing.  He  was  not  given  to  talking,  but  quietly  waited 
until  the  time  came  for  him  to  act ;  then,  while  the  Phil- 
istines were  shouting  and  boasting,  he  put  forth  his 
strength,  and  the  ropes  that  were  upon  his  arms  be- 
came as  flax  that  was  burnt  with  fire,  and  the  bands 
dropped  from  off  his  hands. 

By  this  time  Samson  was  going  to  show  what  he 
could  do,  and  let  the  Children  of  Israel  see  his  strength. 
So  he  put  forth  all  his  efforts  in  attacking  the  Philis- 
tines. He  had  to  have  some  kind  of  a  weapon,  and 
what  do  you  suppose  he  used?  Why,  as  we  are  told, 
he  found  a  jawbone  of  an  ass  and  put  forth  his 
hand  and  took  it  and  smote  a  thousand  men  with  it. 
That  was  enough  for  the  Philistines,  and  they  went 
back  home,  thinking  it  best  for  a  time  to  let  Samson 
alone. 

I  suppose  now  the  Children  of  Israel  felt  somewhat 
encouraged  over  this  new  leader  who  was  arising  in 
their  midst.  But  still  the  Philistines  were  stronger 
than  the  Israelites. 

And  once  again  Samson  undertook  to  show  what 
he  could  do.  It  seems  he  went  to  the  city  of  Gaza,  and 
when  the  people  found  out  about  it  the  Gazites  said 
to  themselves:  "Samson  is  come  hither."  And  they 
laid  in  wait  for  him  all  night  near  the  gate  of  the  city, 
saying:  "Let  be  till  morning;  then  we  will  kill  him." 
And  what  do  you  suppose  Samson  did?  Why,  as  we 
are  told,  Samson  lay  till  midnight,  and  arose  at  mid- 
night and  laid  hold  of  the  doors  of  the  gate  of  the  city, 
and  the  two  posts,  and  plucked  them  up,  bar  and  all, 
and  put  them  upon  his  shoulders  and  carried  them  up  to 
the  top  of  the  mountain  that  is  before  Hebron. 

Fancy  what  the  people  of  Gaza  must  have  thought  in 
the  morning  when'  they  were  getting  ready  to  seize 
Samson  and  put  him  to  death,  and  saw  that  the  gates 
were  open,  and  the  doors  of  the  gates  were  gone,  and 
Samson  with  them !  And  they  went  out  of  their  city 
looking  for  their  gates,  and  there  in  the  distance  they 
saw  the  gates  upon  the  mountain  top. 


CONQUERING  THE  LAND  OF  CANAAN.  23! 

I  am  sure  that  if  Samson  had  gone  on  in  the  right 
way,  and  been  strong  in  his  mind  as  he  was  in  his 
body,  he  would  then  have  been  able  to  conquer  the 
Philistines,  put  them  all  to  death  and  restore  the  Chil- 
dren of  Israel  to  their  ownership  of  the  land  of  Canaan. 
One  man  of  such  enormous  strength  might  have  fright- 
ened thousands,  if  not  hundreds  of  thousands,  of  peo- 
ple. Think  what  it  meant  to  carry  off  the  gates  of  a 
city  or  to  slay  a  thousand  men  with  his  own  hand,  or  to 
face  a  live  lion,  seizing  it  by  the  jaws,  and  even  slay- 
ing the  lion.  Fancy  how  glorious  it  would  have  been 
if  Samson  had  put  himself  forth  as  a  great,  leader 
like  Joshua,  bidding  the  people  go  back  in  spirit  to  the 
commands  of  Moses,  while  he  led  them  forth  to  destroy 
the  Philistines. 

But  the  trouble  was  that  Samson,  with  the  strength 
of  his  body,  never  seems  to  have  used  it  for  any  such 
great  purpose.  He  was  more  inclined  to  amuse  him- 
self with  it  than  to  be  of  service  with  it  to  his  fellow- 
Israelites.  Later  on  we  shall  see  how  he  got  punished 
for  his  weakness.  We  cannot  help  feeling  that  Sam- 
son ought  to  have  looked  upon  his  strength  as  some- 
thing which  he  was  to  use  for  the  good  of  others  all 
the  while.  But  I  shall  have  to  tell  you  how  by  and  by 
he  came  to  lose  it  altogether. 

The  Philistines  began  now  to  be  afraid  that  they 
would  not  be  able  to  hold  the  country  against  the  Israel- 
ites if  this  man  Samson  should  use  all  his  strength 
against  themselves.  But  they  dared  not  fight  him,  and 
so  they  thought  they  would  try  to  find  out  wherein  his 
strength  lay.  And  they  went  about  it  in  the  same  way 
that  they  had  gone  about  to  declare  the  riddle  which 
Samson  had  put  to  them,  you  remember.  They  asked 
his  wife,  saying:  "Entice  him,  and  see  wherein  his 
great  strength  lieth,  and  by  that  means  we  may  pre- 
vail against  him,  that  we  may  bind  him,  and  humble 
him ;  and  we  will  give  thee  eleven  hundred  pieces  of 
silver."  Just  think  how  mean  and  low  it  must  have 
been  for  Delilah,  his  wife,  to  be  willing  to  try  and  take 
away  her  husband's  strength  for  the  sake  of  money ! 

But  she  consented  to 'try  it.     And  Delilah  said  to 


232  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE   STORIES. 

Samson:  "Tell  me,  I  pray  thee,  wherein  thy  great 
strength  lieth,  and  wherewith  thou  mightest  be 
bound?" 

For  a  time  Samson  thought  he  would  amuse  him- 
self with  the  Philistines,  seeing  what  they  were  trying 
to  do,  and  knowing  that  they  had  persuaded  Delilah 
to  get  his  secret  from  him.  And  so  he  answered :  "If 
they  bind  me  with  seven  green  wythes  that  were  never 
dried,  then  shall  I  become  weak  and  be  as  other  men." 

At  once  she  went  and  told  the  Philistines  what  Sam- 
son had  said.  They  were  immensely  pleased,  thinking 
now  they  had  found  out  how  they  could  conquer  Sam- 
son. Then  the  lords  of  the  Philistines  brought  to  her 
seven  green  wythes  which  had  not  been  dried,  and  she 
bound  him  with  them.  Soon  she  reported  her  success, 
and  she  rushed  in  to  Samson,  saying:  "The  Philis- 
tines be  upon  thee,  Samson !" 

But  it  was  plain  the  Philistines  were  not  to  be  as 
merry  over  it  all  as  they  thought  they  would  be;  for 
when  they  rushed  in  to  seize  him,  we  are  told  how  Sam- 
son broke  the  wythes  as  a  string  of  tow  is  broken  when 
it  touches  the  fire.  So  his  strength  was  not  known. 

His  wife  did  not  like  this  at  all,  and  she  made  up 
her  mind  that  she  would  keep  on  trying  to  find  out  the 
secret.  And  Delilah  said  to  Samson:  "Behold,  thou 
hast  mocked  me ;  now  tell  me,  I  pray  thee,  wherewith 
thou  mightest  be  bound."  And  he  said  unto  her :  "If 
they  only  bind  me  with  new  ropes,  wherewith  no  work 
has  been  done,  then  shall  I  become  weak  and  as  an- 
other man."  So  Delilah  took  new  ropes  and  bound 
him  therewith,  and  said  unto  him:  "The  Philistines 
be  upon  thee,  Samson!"  This  time  she  thought 
surely  she  had  found  out  the  secret,  and  that  Samson 
would  be  taken.  But  when  the  Philistines  rushed  in, 
Samson  broke  the  ropes  from  off  his  arms  like  a 
thread. 

I  am  afraid  that  Samson  by  this  time  had  got  a  little 
into  the  habit  of  showing  off.  At  first,  as  I  told  you, 
he  seemed  to  be  a  modest  man ;  but  now  it  looked  as 
though  he  wanted  everyone  to  see  how  strong  he  was ; 
and  so  we  cannot  but  feel  a  little  uneasy,  lest  after  all 
this  showing  off  he  might  not  give  in  and  let  his  secret 


CONQUERING  THE  LAND  OF  CANAAN.  233 

become  known  to  his  wife.  We  grow  a  little  troubled 
as  our  story  goes  on,  and  I  wish  it  were  not  necessary 
to  tell  you  any  more. 

But  Delilah  kept  on  trying  to  find  out  that  secret,  and 
she  said  once  more:  "Samson,  hitherto  thou  hast 
mocked  me;  tell  me  wherewith  thou  mightest  be 
bound."  And  he  said  to  her:  "If  thou  weavest  the 
seven  locks  of  my  head  with  the  web."  And  she  fas- 
tened it  with  the  pin,  and  then  a  little  later  on  she 
rushed  in,  saying :  "The  Philistines  be  upon  thee,  Sam- 
son!" And  he  waked  out  of  his  sleep  and  plucked 
away  the  pin  of  the  beam  and  the  web.  By  this  time 
surely  Samson  had  done  enough  to  show  how  strong 
he  was,  and  he  ought  to  have  stopped.  Perhaps  he 
would  have  done  so  if  he  had  been  younger  and  less 
proud  of  his  strength.  He  ought  to  have  found  out 
long  ago  that  he  had  not  the  same  strength  of  mind 
that  he  had  in  his  body,  and  he  should  have  been  try- 
ing to  learn  self-control.  The  one  thing  he  ought  never 
to  have  done  was  to  make  known  wherein  lay  the  secret 
of  his  strength. 

But  people  who  are  proud  of  the  strength  of  their 
arms,  or  of  the  strength  of  their  bodies,  and  are  quite 
satisfied  with  that  kind  of  strength  only,  are  sure  by 
and  by  to  come  to  grief ;  and  Samson  came  to  grief  at 
last.  His  wife  said  to  him  again:  "How  canst  thou 
say,  'I  love  thee,'  when  thy  heart  is  not  with  me?  Thou 
hast  mocked  me  these  three  times,  and  hast  not  told  me 
wherein  thy  great  strength  lieth." 

Why  it  was  that  Samson  changed  his  mind  and  at 
last  told  the  secret,  we  shall  never  know.  People  who 
yield  to  temptation  oftentimes  can  never  understand 
how  it  all  happened,  because  they  were  so  sure  of  them- 
selves until  it  was  too  late.  But  now,  for  some  reason 
or  other,  Samson  told  Delilah  the  truth  about  the 
secret  of  his  strength.  You  remember  we  said  that 
when  he  was  born  it  had  been  decided  that  he  was  to 
be  what  is  called  a  Nazarite.  Among  other  things  the 
Nazarites  were  never  to  cut  their  hair,  but  to  let  it  grow 
all  their  lives.  Why  they  had  this  custom  we  do  not 
know.  I  am  just  telling  you  the  story  as  it  is  re- 
corded on  this  point. 


234  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

But  now  he  said  to  Delilah :  "There  hath  not  come 
a  razor  upon  my  head,  for  I  have  been  a  Nazarite  since 
I  was  born ;  if  my  head  be  shaven,  then  my  strength 
will  go  from  me,  and  I  shall  be  weak,  and  be  like  any 
other  man." 

Alas  for  Samson!  He  had  given  way  and  broken 
his  resolution.  Now  the  end  for  him  was  to  come. 
It  seems  such  an  awful  pity;  he  might  have  done  so 
much  with  all  his  strength,  if  he  had  only  had  strength 
of  mind  at  the  same  time ! 

When  Delilah  saw  that  he  had  told  her  all  his  heart 
she  sent  and  said  unto  the  lords  of  the  Philistines: 
"Come  up  at  once,  for  he  has  told  me  all  his  heart." 
Then  the  lords  of  the  Philistines  came  up  to  her,  and 
brought  the  money  in  their  hands.  When  Samson 
was  asleep  she  called  for  a  man,  and  they  shaved  off 
the  locks  of  his  head,  and  his  strength  went  from  him. 

Then  she  cried  once  more :  "The  Philistines  be  upon 
thee,  Samson!"  And  he  awoke  out  of  his  sleep  and 
said:  "I  will  go  out  as  at  other  times  and  show  my 
strength."  But  he  knew  not  that  his  strength  was 
gone.  It  was  too  late !  We  can  but  pity  him  now. 

The  Philistines  laid  hold  on  him  and  put  out  his  eyes. 
And  they  brought  him  down  to  Gaza,  that  city,  you  re- 
member, where  he  had  carried  off  the  gates  one  night 
and  left  them  on  the  top  of  the  mountain;  and  they 
bound  him  with  fetters  of  brass,  and  he  did  grind  in  the 
prison  house. 

You  see,  Samson  was  now  a  slave  in  the  hands  of 
the  Philistines,  whom  he  might  have  conquered  if  he 
had  only  had  the  right  spirit  and  also  the  other  kind 
of  strength.  But  he  had  been  weak  in  one  way  and 
strong  in  another,  so  that  his  strength  had  been  of  little 
service  to  him  or  to  others.  He  was  now  blind  and  in 
prison,  working  as  a  slave,  and  grinding  at  the  mill. 

The  Philistines  were  glad  enough  at  last  to  have 
overcome  Samson.  They  felt  sure  that  they  were 
safe  as  regards  the  Israelites.  By  this  time  I  suppose 
Samson  had  begun  to  feel  ashamed  of  what  he  had 
done.  He  could  look  back  over  his  life  and  see  the 
mistake  of  it  all.  Yet  people  who  can  see  the  mistakes 


CONQUERING  THE  LAND  OF  CANAAN.  235 

of  their  lives  can  never  go  back  and  begin  all  over 
again.  They  may  try  to  do  better  for  the  rest  of  their 
days,  but  they  have  to  take  the  consequences  of  what 
they  have  done.  And  the  blind  old  Samson  there  in 
prison  grinding  at  the  mill,  could  only  go  on  thinking 
of  the  past  and  wishing  he  had  been  another  kind  of 
man  and  shown  the  other  kind  of  strength.  We  can 
feel  pretty  sure  that  he  had  begun  to  have  a  better  heart 
now,  and  that  he  was  a  better  man,  with  a  nobler  spirit 
than  when  he  had  all  his  strength. 

You  will  be  interested  to  know  how  he  came  to  his 
end — in  what  way  he  died.  The  story  has  been  told 
thousands  of  times,  and  you  may  have  heard  it  before. 

It  seems  that  the  hair  of  Samson's  head  began  to 
grow  again,  and  his  strength  was  coming  back,  al- 
though he  could  never  again  have  his  eyes  to  see  with, 
^bout  this  t««ne  tl-e  Philistines  came  together  for  a 
great  festival.  They  were  wickedly  glad  of  the  way 
they  had  conquered  Samson,  and  they  thought  they 
had  been  helped  in  doing  this  by  the  idols  which  they 
worshiped. 

;You  can  picture  to  yourselves  thousands  of  the  Phil- 
istines, with  their  wives,  it  may  be,  assembled  together 
to  amuse  themselves  in  the  city  of  Gaza.  I  suppose 
there  was  a  great  palace  there,  and  they  had  been  eat- 
ing and  drinking  and  amusing  themselves  in  every  sort 
of  way. 

At  last  they  thought  they  would  have  Samson 
brought  before  them  and  make  sport  of  him.  And  they 
called  for  Samson  out  of  the  prison  house,  and  they 
set  him  between  the  pillars.  And  Samson  said  unto 
the  lad  that  led  him  by  the  hand :  "Suffer  me  that  I 
may  feel  the  pillars  whereon  the  house  resteth,  that  I 
may  lean  upon  them." 

Now  the  house  was  full  of  men  and  women;  and 
all  the  lords  of  the  Philistines  were  there;  and  there 
were  upon  the  roof  about  three  thousand  men  and 
women,  all  making  sport  of  Samson. 

And  Samson  took  hold  of  the  two  middle  pillars 
upon  which  the  house  rested  and  leaned  upon  them, 
the  one  with  his  right  hand  and  the  other  with  his  left, 


236  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

and  Samson  said :  "Let  me  die  with  the  Philistines." 
And  he  bowed  himself  with  all  his  might;  and  the 
house  fell  upon  the  lords  and  upon  all  the  people  that 
were  therein.  So  that  they  which  he  slew  at  his  death 
were  more  than  those  which  he  slew  in  his  life. 

It  is  sad,  this  story  of  Samson,  both  in  the  way  he 
lived  and  in  the  way  he  died.  He  might  have  done  so 
much  more  if  he  had  only  been  another  kind  of  man 
or  had  had  the  other  kind  of  strength. 

To  THE  TEACHER  :  This  might  be  used  as  a  lesson 
on  the  evils  of  "showing  off,"  especially  when  one  can 
only  do  it  with  brute  strength  instead  of  showing 
strength  of  mind.  It  may  be  pointed  out  how  a  person 
is  liable  to  give  way  suddenly  owing  to  his  pride  in  his 
one  kind  of  strength  and  to  his  want  of  force  of  char- 
acter. If  Sampson  is  made  a  hero  of,  the  value  of  the 
story  is  lost  entirely.  He  did  some  good,  but  not  for 
the  sake  of  good,  and  therefore  not  one-quarter  of  the 
good  he  might  have  done.  Yet  the  story  is  classic  and 
needs  to  be  told,  even  with  its  details. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 
Jephthah's  Daughter. 

I  can  tell  you  now  another  kind  of  story,  quite  unlike 
the  one  about  Samson.  It  belongs  to  the  same  time 
in  the  history  of  the  Children  of  Israel,  in  those  days 
when  they  were  without  one  common  form  of  govern- 
ment, as  I  said,  and  when  they  were  every  now  and 
then  having  wars  with  the  Canaanites.  There  is  one 
sad  remark  which  we  find  made  over  and  over  again 
at  that  time  in  regard  to  the  Children  of  Israel.  If  you 
read  their  history  you  will  see  now  and  then  how  it  says, 
"And  the  Children  of  Israel  did  that  which  was  evil  in 
the  sight  of  their  Lord." 

And  whenever  you  come  upon  this  saying  you  can 
know  that  it  is  followed  by  an  account  of  the  way  the 
Israelites  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the  tribes  of  wicked 
people  living  there  in  Canaan.  Sometimes  it  would  be 
the  Philistines,  as  in  the  story  of  Samson;  at  other 
times  it  would  be  some  other  wicked  tribe  afflicting  the 
Children  of  Israel.  And  when  this  took  place  there 
would  have  to  be  war,  as  you  know,  so  that  one  or 
another  leader  would  arise  to  help  the  Israelites  in 
their  battles. 

At  one  of  those  times  a  leader  arose  whose  name  was 
Jephthah,  and  he  was  said  to  be  a  mighty  man  of  valor. 
Just  at  the  time  when  he  was  growing  up  to  young 
manhood  the  Children  of  Israel  were  having  a  great 
deal  of  trouble  with  the  Ammonites,  one  of  those 
wicked  tribes  who  were  the  enemies  of  the  Israelites. 

Already  Jephthah  as  a  young  man  had  been  show- 
ing great  strength  and  bravery,  so  that  the  Israelites 
felt  they  might  look  upon  him  as  a  leader. 

And  they  sent  for  him,  saying:  "Come  and  be  our 
237 


238  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

chief,  that  we  may  fight  with  the  children  of  Ammon." 
It  was  mainly  the  elders  of  Gilead  who  had  sent  to 
Jephthah  in  this  way.  And  Jephthah  said  to  the  elders 
of  Gilead :  "If  ye  bring  me  to  fight  with  the  children 
of  Ammon,  and  the  Lord  deliver  them  before  me,  shall 
I  be  your  head?"  And  the  elders  of  Gilead  said  unto 
Jephthah:  "The  Lord  shall  be  witness  between  us; 
surely  according  to  thy  word,  so  we  will  do."  Then 
Jephthah  went  with  the  elders  of  Gilead  and  the  peo- 
ple made  him  head  and  chief  over  them. 

I  am  not  telling  you  this  story  so  much  in  order 
that  you  may  know  about  Jephthah,  but  in  order  that 
you  may  know  about  his  daughter,  a  beautiful  girl, 
brave  and  good  and  strong,  whom  you  may  want  to 
hear  about. 

Jephthah  made  ready  his  army,  feeling  sure  that  he 
would  be  able  with  his  soldiers  to  conquer  the  Am- 
monites. But  he  did  one  thing  which  nowadays  we 
cannot  at  all  well  understand.  In  former  times,  a  long 
while  ago,  people  had  a  way  of  making  vows,  thinking 
that  making  such  vows  would  help  them  to  be  suc- 
cessful in  what  they  were  trying  to  do.  And  Jephthah, 
wishing  to  assure  himself  about  his  success  in  fighting 
with  the  Ammonites,  made  one  of  these  vows,  which 
was  something  he  ought  not  to  have  done,  because  it 
was  the  wrong  kind  of  vow,  although,  as  we  might 
say,  it  was  made  in  the  right  spirit. 

His  thought  was,  if  he  promised  to  give  up  some- 
thing very  dear  to  him — perhaps  the  dearest  thing  in 
the  world — then  the  Ruler  of  the  World  would  be  on 
his  side  and  help  him  all  the  more. 

And  Jephthah  vowed  a  vow  unto  the  Lord,  saying: 
"If  thou  wilt  indeed  deliver  the  children  of  Ammon 
into  my  hand,  then  whatsoever  cometh  forth  from  the 
doors  of  my  house  to  meet  me  when  I  return,  it  shall 
be  the  Lord's,  and  I  will  offer  it  up  for  a  burnt  offer- 
ing." 

Nevertheless  he  must  have  known  that  this  would 
have  been  some  one  of  his  own  family,  and  it  meant 
a  promise  that  he  would  put  that  one  to  death  if  he 
should  win  the  victory,  in  order  to  show  his  willing- 


CONQUERING  THE  LAND  OF  CANAAN.  239 

ness  to  give  up  something  very  dear  to  him.  But  we 
feel  he  had  no  right  to  do  this  with  the  life  of  another 
person.  Human  life  is  something  sacred,  and  no  one 
has  the  right  to  sacrifice  a  human  being  in  that  way. 

But  be  that  as  it  may,  he  set  out  with  his  army  and 
won  a  great  victory  over  the  Ammonites. 

So  the  Children  of  Ammon  were  subdued  before  the 
Children  of  Israel. 

Jephthah  came  back,  rejoicing  in  his  victory.  I  fancy 
he  may  have  forgotten  all  about  the  vow  he  had  made, 
although  this  seems  hardly  possible.  While  he  was 
thinking  only  of  the  success  he  had  met  with,  and  how 
glad  all  the  elders  of  Gilead  would  be  when  he  re- 
turned with  the  army,  all  of  a  sudden  he  was  made  to 
remember  that  sad  vow.  Who  do  you  suppose  was  the 
one  that  came  forth  to  meet  him  out  of  his  house? 
Why,  it  was  his  own  daughter — his  only  child.  She  had 
already  heard  of  the  success  of  her  father,  and  of  the 
great  victory  he  had  won,  and  she  came  out  to  meet 
him,  singing  and  dancing  to  show  her  pleasure,  and 
to  let  him  feel  her  delight  over  what  he  had  done. 
Surely  this  was  natural  enough,  just  the  way  any  child 
would  have  done,  any  son  or  daughter,  when  their 
father  had  done  something  brave  in  this  way. 

As  we  are  told,  Jephthah  came  unto  his  house,  and 
behold !  his  daughter  came  out  to  meet  him,  with  tim- 
brels and  with  dancing;  and  she  was  an  only  child; 
beside  her  he  had  neither  son  nor  daughter.  And  it 
came  to  pass  when  he  saw  her  that  he  rent  his  clothes 
and  said :  "Alas,  my  daughter,  thou  hast  brought  me 
very  low ;  for  I  have  made  my  vow  and  cannot  take  it 
back." 

And  he  told  her  of  the  vow  he  had  made  before  he 
had  set  out  to  conquer  the  Ammonites.  Just  think 
what  a  meeting  that  was  between  father  and  child! 
His  heart  must  have  been  torn  in  pieces.  How  he  must 
have  wished  that  he  had  never  made  that  vow,  as  he 
looked  into  the  eye  of  his  only  child,  his  daughter  there 
before  him ! 

There  was  no  way  out  of  it,  however,  according  to 
the  customs  of  those  days.  WTien  a  man  made  a  vow 
it  had  to  be  kept,  no  matter  what  it  might  be. 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE   STORIES. 

And  what  do  you  suppose  this  daughter  did  when 
she  was  told  of  this  vow  on  the  part  of  her  father? 
Did  she  plead  with  him  that  he  should  spare  her  life, 
as  indeed  we  might  have  expected  of  her ;  or,  instead  of 
pleading  with  him,  did  she  try  to  escape,  fleeing  from 
her  home  or  her  country,  and  in  that  way  saving  her 
life  ?  Surely  she  did  not  want  to  die ;  and  it  must  have 
seemed  hard  indeed  that  she  should  have  been  asked 
to  give  up  her  life  in  order  that  the  vow  of  her  father 
might  be  carried  out. 

But  no ;  this  was  a  brave  girl,  with  no  thought  about 
herself.  She  loved  her  father,  even  to  the  point  of 
being  willing  to  give  up  her  life  for  his  sake.  She  knew 
what  an  awful  thing  it  would  be  for  him  to  break  that 
vow,  now  that  it  had  been  made.  She  felt  that  some- 
how a  curse  would  come  upon  him  unless  she  consented 
to  die. 

And  this  is  what  the  daughter  said  to  her  father: 
"My  father,  thou  hast  opened  thy  mouth,  and  made  thy 
vow;  do  unto  me  according  to  that  which  hath  pro- 
ceeded out  of  thy  mouth ;  inasmuch  as  the  Lord  hath 
taken  vengeance  for  thee  of  thy  enemies,  even  of  the 
children  of  Ammon."  You  see,  there  had  been  no 
pleading,  no  tears,  no  anger  on  the  part  of  that  brave 
girl;  she  stood  there  before  her  father,  loyal  to  him 
in  life  and  in  death. 

Only  one  favor  she  asked  of  her  father,  saying :  "Let 
this  thing  be  done  for  me;  let  me  alone  two  months, 
that  I  may  depart  and  go  down  upon  the  mountain  and 
stay  there  for  a  time  with  my  companions."  And  he 
said,  "Go."  And  he  sent  her  away  for  two  months. 
And  she  departed,  she  and  her  companions,  and  staid 
alone  with  them  two  months  upon  the  mountains. 

One  cannot  help  thinking  of  her  there  with  her  com- 
panions during  that  time,  and  what  a  heroine  she  was, 
how  calm  and  how  self-possessed  and  how  fearless! 
She  knew  what  it  was  to  love  her  father.  We  know 
well  enough  that  she  wanted  to  live,  for  she  was  young 
and  had  scarcely  entered  upon  what  we  would  call  real 
life.  She  must  have  been  thinking  to  herself  how  she 
might  have  married  and  had  children,  with  little  ones 


CONQUERING  THE  LAND  OF  CANAAN.  24-1 

to  call  her  mother.  And  none  of  this  could  ever  be; 
she  would  never  be  a  mother  nor  a  wife,  but  must  give 
up  all  thought  of  that,  in  order  to  enable  her  father  to 
keep  his  vow. 

However,  she  never  once  changed  her  mind  during 
those  two  months  while  she  was  there  on  the  moun- 
tains. And  it  came  to  pass  at  the  end  of  two  months 
she  returned  unto  her  father,  who  did  with  her  accord- 
ing to  the  vow  which  he  had  vowed. 

This  is  the  sad  yet  beautiful  story  of  JephthaTh's 
Daughter. 

To  THE  TEACHER:  The  beauty  and  significance  or 
this  story  lies  in  the  character  of  the  daughter  and  not 
in  the  heroism  of  Jephthah.  One  can  speak  of  the 
noble  loyalty  on  her  part  toward  her  father  and  of  the 
sweet  spirit  of  resignation  displayed  by  her.  The  fact 
that  Jephthah  had  to  keep  his  vow  must  be  spoken  of 
as  something  pertaining  to  those  days,  and  not  as  if 
nowadays  such  a  vow  ought  to  be  kept.  Dwell  on  the 
mistake  of  making  rash  vows  or  promises.  Something 
could  be  said  of  the  repeated  saying  about  the  Children 
of  Israel  "doing  evil  again  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord." 
There  is  a  great  lesson  in  history  here,  indicating  that 
the  struggle  to  keep  on  the  good  side  must  always  be  a 
battle  and  always  be  kept  up,  in  that  it  does  not  come 
easy  to  stay  good. 

MEMORY  VERSES:  Alas,  my  daughter,  thou  hast 
brought  me  very  low,  for  1  have  made  my  vow  and 
cannot  take  it  back! 

My  father,  thou  hast  opened  thy  mouth  and  made 
thy  vow;  do  unto  me  according  to  that  which  has  brn- 
ceeded  out  of  thy  mouth. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 
The  Story  of  Ruth. 

We  are  still  talking  about  that  time  when  the  Chil- 
dren of  Israel  had  no  one  common  form  of  govern- 
ment; each  tribe  governing  itself  in  its  own  way.  I 
suppose  whole  books  could  be  written  about  what  hap- 
pened to  the  Israelites  in  those  days.  And  out  of  all 
that  might  be  told  you,  I  am  choosing  certain  of  these 
stories. 

Now  I  have  another  one  that  I  am  sure  you  will  care 
to  hear.  It  is  connected  with  the  tribe  of  Judah. 
Whether  it  belongs  to  a  time  before  or  after  the  days 
of  Jephthah  we  do  not  know.  But  I  should  like  to  give 
you  this  story  in  order  that  you  may  see  how  the  Israel- 
ites found  out  that  there  were  other  good  people  in  the 
world  besides  themselves.  And  this  story  has  to  do 
with  a  noble-minded  woman,  as  true  and  good  in  her 
way  as  any  of  the  women  among  the  Children  of  Israel. 

It  seems  that  in  those  days  there  was  a  very  severe 
famine  in  one  part  of  Canaan,  so  that  the  people  in  the 
tribe  of  Judah  suffered  from  lack  of  food.  And  when 
famine  strikes1  a  people  it  is  usually  the  poor  man,  or 
the  poor  man's  family,  that  suffers  first,  because  they 
have  very  little  laid  by  for  a  rainy  day. 

And  so  my  story  begins  in  this  way:  It  came  to 
pass  that  there  was  a  famine  in  the  land.  And  a  cer- 
tain man  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  went  to  sojourn  in  the 
country  of  Moab,  he  and  his  wife  and  his  two  sons. 

The  Moab  people  were  like  the  Canaanites,  although 
they  did  not  live  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  but  in  one  of 
the  countries  round  about  there.  The  people  who 
lived  in  that  land  and  those  who  lived  round  about, 
were  pretty  much  all  of  them  of  the  same  kind,  and 

242 


CONQUERING  THfi  LAND  OF  CANAAN.  £43 

not  many  of  them  were  good  people.    I  shall  speak  of 
them  all,  however,  as  "Canaanites." 

But  there  was  this  family  among  the  Moabites,  al- 
though they  belonged  to  the  Children  of  Israel  and  of 
the  tribe  of  Judah.  They  found  food  there,  and  so  re- 
mained among  the  Moabites  for  a  number  of  years. 
I  do  not  fancy  that  they  were  very  happy,  however, 
and  probably  they  got  to  wishing  that  they  might  go 
back  to  their  own  people. 

In  the  meantime  the  two  sons  married  wives  among 
the  Moabites.  This  was  contrary  to  the  custom,  yet  it 
is  with  one  of  these  Moabitish  women  that  my  story 
is  concerned. 

Evidently  the  two  sons  were  very  fortunate  in  their 
wives,  and  it  turned  out  that  these  two  women  were 
not  like  the  rest  of  the  wicked  Canaanites.  The  name 
of  the  one  was  Orphah,  the  name  of  the  other  Ruth, 
while  the  mother  of  the  two  sons  was  named  Naomi. 

After  the  two  sons  had  been  married  a  few  years 
they  both  died,  and  the  father  died  also ;  and  there  was 
the  poor  woman  without  her  sons,  and  without  her 
husband,  alone  in  a  strange  country,  with  the  two  Mo- 
abitish women,  Orphah  and  Ruth. 

It  was  now  about  ten  years  since  Naomi  and  her 
husband  had  left  their  home  and  gone  away  from  the 
tribe  of  Judah  to  the  land  of  the  Moabites.  In  the 
meantime  Naomi  had  learned  that  there  was  food  to 
be  had  once  more  in  her  own  country  and  among  her 
own  people.  And  so  she  decided  that  she  would  go 
back  there,  returning  to  her  home  and  to  her  kindred. 
She  was  a  sorrowful  woman  after  all  the  trials  that 
had  come  upon  her,  but  she  had  learned  to  love  these 
two  women,  her  daughters-in-law,  the  wives  of  her 
sons.  And  she  felt  that  she  ought  not  to  ask  them  to 
go  with  her,  inasmuch  as  she  would  be  taking  them 
among  strangers,  in  the  way  she  had  been  a  stranger 
in  the  land  of  Moab. 

One  cannot  help  feeling  a  great  deal  of  pity  for  these 
three  lonely  women,  bereft  of  those  nearest  and  dear- 
est to  them.  But  Naomi  wanted  to  do  what  was  right 
with  those  who  had  been  the  wives  of  her  dear  sons. 


244  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE   STORIES. 

And  now,  when  she  had  made  up  her  mind  that  she 
would  go  back  to  her  own  people,  she  said  to  Orphan 
and  Ruth:  "Go,  return,  each  of  you,  to  her  mother's 
house;  may  the  Lord  deal  kindly  with  you,  as  ye  have 
dealt  with  the  dead  and  with  me."  Then  she  kissed 
them,  and  they  lifted  up  their  voices  and  wept. 

And  they  said  to  her:  "Nay,  but  we  will  return 
with  thee  unto  thy  people."  This  was  certainly  brave 
and  loyal  on  their  part.  But  Naomi  answered :  "Turn 
back,  my  daughters;  why  will  ye  go  with  me?  Go 
your  way."  And  they  lifted  up  their  voices  and  wept 
again.  Then  Orphah  kissed  her  mother-in-law,  bade 
her  goodby  and  went  back  to  her  people. 

Not  so  with  Ruth.  And  it  is  with  this  noble  woman 
that  my  story  deals.  As  we  are  told,  she  clave  to 
Naomi,  and  this  is  what  she  said:  "Entreat  me  not 
to  leave  thee  and  to  return  from  following  after  thee, 
for  whither  thou  goest,  I  will  go ;  and  where  thou  lodg- 
est  I  will  lodge ;  thy  people  shall  be  my  people,  and  thy 
Lord  my  Lord ;  where  thou  diest,  will  I  die ;  and  there 
will  I  be  buried.  The  Lord  do  so  to  me,  and  more 
also,  if  aught  but  death  part  me  and  thee !" 

I  wonder  if  you  would  not  like  to  learn  those  words 
by  heart,  they  are  so  beautiful.  Don't  you  suppose 
that  Naomi  must  have  felt  for  a  moment  as  though 
this  was  enough  to  make  up  for  nearly  all  the  trials 
that  she  had  to  go  through  ?  When  addressed  in  this 
way,  Naomi  could  not  refuse.  She,  too,  wanted  Ruth 
to  stay  with  her,  and  when  she  saw  that  the  young 
woman  was  disposed  to  go  with  her,  she  left  off  speak- 
ing. And  they  started  out  to  go  to  Naomi's  people, 
among  the  tribe  of  Judah. 

You  see,  it  had  been  ten  whole  years  since  Naomi 
had  gone  away.  But  the  people  in  the  city  where  she 
had  lived  remembered  her  well,  for  they  had  been  very 
fond  of  her  indeed. 

And  when  she  came  back  with  Ruth  all  the  city  was 
moved  about  them,  and  the  women  said,  "Is  this 
Naomi?"  and  she  answered  them:  "Call  me  not 
Naomi  (which  in  her  language  meant  'pleasant'), 
but  call  me  Mara  (which  in  her  language  meant  'bit- 


CONQUERING  THE  LAND  OF  CANAAN.  245 

ter'),  for  all  hath  gone  bitterly  with  me.  I  went  out 
full,  and  am  come  home  again  empty."  One  feels  al- 
most sorry  that  she  spoke  in  this  way  when  one  thinks 
how  Ruth  had  clung  to  her,  and  what  it  meant  for 
Naomi  to  have  a  daughter  like  this,  who  would  leave 
her  own  people  to  come  with  Naomi,  just  for  the  sake 
of  her  love  for  her  husband's  mother.  But,  as  we  are 
told,  Naomi  returned,  and  Ruth,  the  Moabitess,  her 
daughter,  with  her.  They  had  come  to  the  city  in  the 
beginning  of  the  barley  harvest. 

Now,  they  were  very  poor,  as  you  may  be  aware. 
There  was  food  enough  in  the  land,  but  as  yet  they 
had  none  of  it.  At  one  time,  long  before  she  had  gone 
away,  her  husband  had  owned  a  field  in  this  land,  and 
she  may  have  hoped  to  get  it  back  again,  while  as  yet 
she  had  to  take  what  she  could  find. 

In  those  days  they  had  a  beautiful  custom,  accord- 
ing to  which,  when  the  men  were  reaping  in  the  har- 
vest from  their  fields  of  wheat  or  barley,  they  were  to 
leave  the  corners  of  the  fields  for  the  poor  to  glean  in ; 
or  if  any  of  the  wheat  or  barley  dropped  by  the  side, 
as  it  was  being  gathered  in  bundles,  that  was  to  be 
left  there  for  the  same  purpose. 

The  only  course  left  now  for  Ruth  and  Naomi  was 
to  glean  in  the  fields  in  this  way.  So  Ruth,  the  Mo- 
abitess, said  to  Naomi :  "Let  me  now  go  to  the  field 
and  glean  among  the  ears  of  corn." 

It  so  happened  that  the  field  where  she  was  glean- 
ing belonged  to  a  man  named  Boaz,  a  mighty  man  of 
wealth,  who  had  been  a  kinsman  of  the  husband  of 
Naomi.  As  we  are  told  in  our  story,  "Ruth  went  and 
came  and  gleaned  in  the  field  after  the  reapers,  and 
her  hap  was  to  light  on  the  portion  of  the  field  belong- 
ing to  Boaz.  And  behold,  Boaz  came  among  the  reap- 
ers and  said  to  them,  'The  Lord  be  with  you/  and  they 
answered  him,  'The  Lord  bless  thee.' " 

Then  Boaz  said  unto  his  servant  that  was  set  over 
the  reapers,  "Whose  damsel  is  this  ?"  pointing  to  Ruth 
not  far  away.  I  fancy  there  must  have  been  something 
fine  and  noble  in  the  appearance  of  this  brave  young 


246  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

woman.  In  some  way  she  must  have  attracted  the  at- 
tention of  Boaz  while  she  was  gleaning  there. 

And  the  servant  that  was  set  over  the  reapers  an- 
swered and  said:  "It  is  the  Moabitish  damsel  that 
came  back  with  Naomi  out  of  the  country  of  Moab; 
and  she  said,  'Let  me  glean,  I  pray  you,  and  gather 
after  the  reapers  among  the  sheaves ;'  so  she  came  and 
hath  continued  from  the  morning." 

Boaz  then  said  to  Ruth:  "Hearest  thou  not,  my 
daughter ;  go  not  to  glean  in  another  field,  neither  pass 
from  hence;  but  abide  here  fast  by  my  maidens;  let 
thine  eyes  be  on  the  field  where  they  do  reap,  and  go 
thou  after  them.  I  have  charged  the  young  men  that 
they  should  not  touch  thee.  And  when  thou  art  athirst 
go  unto  the  vessels  and  ^nnk  from  the  water  which 
my  men  have  drawn/ 

How  glad  at  heart  poor  Ruth  must  have  felt  that  all 
this  kindness  should  have  come  to  her,  a  stranger  in 
the  land!  It  means  so  much  sometimes  if  one  is  a. 
stranger,  to  have  a  few  kind  words  spoken  to  one  in 
this  way.  From  that  time  on,  all  the  world  seemed 
different  to  her;  the  sky  looked  brighter;  everybody 
seemed  kind  all  around  her. 

As  we  are  told,  Ruth  fell  on  her  face  and  bowed 
herself  to  the  ground  and  said  to  Boaz :  "Why  have 
I  found  grace  in  thy  sight,  that  thou  shouldst  take 
knowledge  of  me,  seeing  I  am  a  stranger  ?"  And  Boaz 
answered  and  said  to  her :  "It  hath  been  fully  shown 
to  me  all  that  thou  hast  done  unto  thy  mother-in-law 
since  the  death  of  thy  husband,  and  how  thou  hast  left 
thy  father  and  thy  mother  and  the  land  of  thy  nativity, 
and  art  come  unto  a  people  which  thou  knewest  not 
heretofore.  May  the  Lord  recompense  thy  work,  and 
a  full  reward  be  given  thee  of  the  Lord,  under  whose 
wings  thou  art  come  to  take  refuge/' 

And  Ruth  answered  him  and  said:  "Let  me  find 
grace  in  thy  sight,  my  lord,  for  thou  hast  comforted 
me,  in  that  thou  hast  spoken  kindly  unto  thine  hand- 
maid, though  I  be  not  as  one  of  thy  handmaidens." 

At  meal  time  Boaz  said  unto  her:  "Come  hither 
and  eat  of  the  bread  and  dip  thy  morsel  in  the  vinegar 


CONQUERING  THE  LAND  OF  CANAAN.  247 

with  the  rest."  And  she  sat  beside  the  reapers,  and 
they  gave  her  corn,  and  she  did  eat. 

When  she  was  risen  up  to  glean  again,  Boaz  com- 
manded his  young  men,  saying :  "Let  her  glean  even 
among  the  sheaves,  and  also  pull  out  some  for  her 
from  the  bundles,  and  drop  it  by  the  way  and  let  her 
find  it."  In  this  way  Ruth  gleaned  in  the  field  until 
evening  time,  and  she  took  up  what  she  had  gleaned 
and  went  into  the  city.  And  her  mother-in-law  saw 
what  she  had  gleaned  and  said  to  her:  "Where  hast 
thou  gleaned  to-day?  Blessed  be  he  that  did  take 
knowledge  of  thee." 

Ruth  then  told  her  mother-in-law  where  she  had 
gleaned  and  said :  "The  man's  name  in  whose  field  I 
gleaned  to-day  is  Boaz."  And  Naomi  said  to  Ruth: 
"The  man  is  nigh  of  kin  unto  us,  one  of  our  near  kin- 
dred." And  Ruth,  the  Moabitess,  said :  "Yes ;  he  said 
to  me :  Thou  shalt  keep  fast  by  my  men  until  they  have 
ended  the  harvest/  '"  And  Naomi  said  unto  Ruth :  "It 
is  good,  my  daughter,  that  thou  go  out  with  the  hand- 
maidens of  Boaz  and  stay  with  them  in  that  field."  So 
she  kept  fast  by  the  maidens  of  Boaz,  and  gleaned  to 
the  end  of  the  barley  harvest  and  of  the  wheat  har- 
vest. And  she  dwelt  with  her  mother-in-law,  Naomi. 

In  the  meantime  Naomi  began  to  think  about  that 
field  which  once  had  belonged  to  her  husband,  and 
whether  it  might  not  be  somehow  got  back  again  for 
herself  and  Ruth — that  is,  "redeemed,"  as  they  called 
it  in  those  days.  If  this  could  only  be  done,  there  would 
be  something  left  for  the  two  women  to  live  upon  the 
rest  of  their  lives.  She  decided  to  send  Ruth  to  Boaz 
and  see  whether  he  would  redeem  the  field  in  order 
that  they  might  have  it  back  again. 

And  Ruth  came  to  Boaz  and  he  said,  "Who  art 
thou?"  and  she  answered,  "I  am  Ruth,  thy  handmaid 
Thou  art  our  near  kinsman."  Just  why  Boaz  had  not 
known  this,  our  story  does  not  say.  But  at  any  rate, 
as  soon  as  the  fact  was  made  known  to  him  about  the 
kinship  between  him  and  Naomi,  and  about  the  field 
which  Naomi  wished  to  have  redeemed,  he  answered 
Ruth,  saying:  "My  daughter,  fear  not;  I  will  do  tq 


248  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

thee  4ll  that  thou  sayest.  It  is  true  that  I  am  a  near 
kinsman;  howbeit,  there  is  a  kinsman  nearer  than  I. 
Tarry  this  night,  and  it  shall  be  in  the  morning 
that  if  he  will  perform  unto  thee  the  part  of  a  kins- 
man and  redeem  the  field,  well  and  good;  let  him  do 
the  kinsman's  part.  But  if  he  will  not  do  the  part  of 
a  kinsman  to  thee,  then  will  I  do  the  part  of  a  kins- 
man." 

And  he  said  to  her  the  next  morning:  "Bring  the 
mantle  that  is  upon  thee  and  hold  it ;"  and  she  held  it, 
and  he  measured  out  six  measures  of  barley  and  gave  it 
to  her ;  and  he  went  into  the  city.  Then  Ruth  came 
back  to  Naomi  and  told  all  that  the  man  had  said  and 
done ;  and  she  said :  "These  six  measures  of  barley  gave 
he  to  me,  for  he  said,  'Go  not  empty  to  thy  mother-in- 
law.'  "  And  Naomi  answered :  "Sit  still,  my  daugh- 
ter, until  thou  knowest  how  the  matter  will  turn  out; 
for  the  man  will  not  rest  until  he  hath  finished  this 
thing  this  day." 

You  will  be  glad  to  know  now  what  was  done  by 
Boaz.  You  see,  he  had  been  very  much  pleased  with 
Ruth  because  of  the  sweetness  and  beauty  of  her  char- 
acter ;  and  then,  too,  he  was  glad  to  know  of  his  kin- 
ship with  Naomi.  He  had  gone  at  once  to  the  gate  of 
the  city  in  the  early  morning,  and  sat  down  there. 

Then,  as  we  learn,  behold,  the  near  kinsman  of 
whom  Boaz  spoke,  came  by,  and  Boaz  said  to  him: 
"Turn  aside,  sit  down  here."  And  the  man  turned 
aside  and  sat  down.  And  he  said  to  the  near  kinsman : 
"Naomi  that  is  come  again  out  of  the  country  of  Moab, 
hath  a  parcel  of  land  which  belonged  to  her  husband, 
and  which  should  be  redeemed.  If  thou  wilt  redeem 
it,  redeem  it ;  but  if  thou  wilt  not  redeem  it,  then  tell 
me  that  I  may  know,  for  there  is  none  to  redeem  it 
beside  thee ;  and  I  am  after  thee." 

After  they  had  talked  it  over  for  a  while  it  turned 
out  that  the  other  kinsman  could  not  redeem  the  land, 
and  so  he  gave  the  right  to  redeem  it  to  Boaz. 

You  may  like  to  know  of  a  peculiar  custom  of  those 
early  times,  when  people  agreed  on  something.  As  we 
are  told  in  our  story :  "It  was  the  custom  at  that  time 


CONQUERING  THE  LAND  OF  CANAAN.  249 

in  Israel,  when  confirming  an  agreement,  for  the  one 
man  to  draw  off  a  shoe  and  give  it  to  the  other ;  and 
so  the  near  kinsman  said  unto  Boaz:  "Redeem  thou 
the  field."  And  he  drew  off  his  shoe. 

Then  Boaz  said  to  those  who  were  present  at  the 
gate  of  the  city:  "Ye  are  witnesses  this  day  that  1 
have  redeemed  the  field  that  belonged  to  the  husband 
of  Naomi."  But  this  was  not  all.  He  was  going  to 
do  something  more.  He  had  been  so  pleased  with 
Ruth,  so  charmed  by  her  beauty  and  her  noble  ways, 
that  he  had  decided  to  make  her  his  wife.  And  he  said, 
therefore,  at  the  same  time  to  the  elders  at  the  gate: 
"Ruth,  the  Moabitess,  I  take  to  be  my  wife.  Ye  are 
witnesses  this  day."  And  all  the  people  that  were  at 
the  gate  and  the  elders  said :  "We  are  witnesses." 

And  in  this  way  joy  at  last  had  come  to  Naomi  and 
her  daughter-in-law,  Ruth.  Their  trials  were  at  an 
end.  I  am  sure  Naomi  would  no  longer  have  asked 
that  people  should  have  called  her  "Mara,"  after  all 
the  kindness  and  good  fortune  which  had  come  to  hei 
and  to  th?  dear  daughter  that  had  followed  her  from 
the  land  of  the  Moabites. 

Ruth  was  now  married  to  Boaz,  and  no  longer 
had  to  glean  in  the  field  as  one  of  his  handmaidens,  but 
became  his  wife.  And  I  am  sure  that  Naomi,  the  deal 
mother,  lived  with  them  in  their  home,  and  that  if  ever 
there  was  a  happy  home,  it  must  have  been  that  of 
Ruth,  Naomi  and  Boaz. 

To  THE  TEACHER  :  This  is  one  of  the  most  beauti- 
ful and  touching  stories  in  the  Bible,  and  should  be 
gone  over  very  fully,  with  each  detail  talked  about,  so 
that  the  children  may  remember  it  all.  A  number  of  the 
speeches  could  be  recited  aloud  and  committed  to  mem- 
ory by  all  the  young  people.  It  is  not  necessary  to  con- 
demn the  first  daughter-in-law  who  stayed  behind.  The 
fact  that  Ruth  followed  Naomi  is  not  the  main  point, 
but  rather  the  gentle  and  beautiful  spirit  Ruth  dis- 
played throughout,  indicating  what  a  fine,  strong,  noble 
character  she  had,  and  how  brave  and  gentle  she  was, 
under  difficulties  or  trying  circumstances.  Show  a 


25,0  THE   OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

picture  of  gleaners  in  a  wheatfield.  Something  might 
be  said  of  the  importance  of  the  discovery  on  the  part 
of  Naomi  and  of  the  Israelites  that  a  good  and  noble 
person  might  be  found  among  a  class  of  people  gen- 
erally despised. 

MEMORY  VERSE  :  Entreat  me  not  to  leave  thee,  and 
to  return  from  following  after  thee;  for  whither  thou 
goest,  I  will  go;  and  where  thou  lodgest,  I  will  lodge; 
thy  people  shall  be  my  people,  and  thy  Lord  my  Lord; 
where  thou  diest,  I  will  die,  and  there  will  I  be  buried. 
The  Lord  do  so  to  mef  and  more  also,  if  aught  but 
death  part  thee  and  me 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 
The  Patience  of  Job. 

I  wonder  if  at  any  time  you  have  ever  heard  any- 
body speak  of  another  person,  and  say  that  he  had 
"the  patience  of  Job"?  If  not,  it  is  quite  certain 
that  you  will  hear  this  a  good  many  times  later  on, 
even  before  you  are  grown  up.  When  people  wish  to 
tell  about  some  one  who  has  had  unusual  patience, 
they  always  mention  the  name  of  Job.  This  man  must 
have  been  a  great  character  in  history,  or  the  story  of 
him  must  be  quite  unlike  the  stories  of  ordinary  men ; 
otherwise  everybody  would  not  use  his  name  as  the 
example  of  patience. 

Perhaps  I  had  better  at  this  time,  therefore,  tell  you 
about  Job.  Just  when  he  lived,  we  do  not  know.  It 
may  be  that  it  was  somewhere  about  the  time  of  Ruth 
and  Naomi,  or  of  Jephthah,  or  of  Samson — while 
the  Children  of  Israel  had  no  kings,  as  I  have  said  a 
number  of  times.  But  it  does  not  matter  when  he 
lived ;  all  that  we  care  to  find  out  is  what  sort  of  man 
he  was,  what  he  did,  or  what  he  had  to  go  through, 
because  people  when  talking  about  wonderful  patience 
always  use  this  man's  name. 

According  to  the  story,  he  was  a  man  of  great 
wealth,  having  riches  of  all  kinds;  all  the  money  he 
wanted,  and  everything  that  his  heart  could  desire. 
Few  men  at  that  day  were  as  rich  as  Job.  Everything 
went  prosperously  with  him;  nothing  seemed  to  go 
wrong  or  interfere  with  him  in  any  way.  His  chil- 
dren were  all  well  and  good  and  happy;  and  he  had 
a  beautiful  home,  where  there  was  no  trouble  of  any 
kind. 


252  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

All  this  does  not  happen  often  in  the  world ;  but  it 
was  so  with  the  whole  family  of  Job. 

What  is  more,  Job  was  a  very  good  man.  We  might 
have  supposed  that  this  wealth  and  prosperity  would 
have  spoiled  him  a  little ;  because  when  people  are 
very  successful  and  never  have  any  kind  of  trouble, 
they  often  grow  selfish  or  disagreeable,  so  that  othei 
people  do  not  like  them,  or  will  have  nothing  to  do 
with  them.  But  not  so  with  this  man  with  whom 
my  story  deals;  in  spite  of  all  his  riches  and  pros- 
perity, he  was  a  man  good  and  true. 

My  story  begins  in  this  way:  There  was  a  man  in 
the  land  of  Uz,  whose  name  was  Job;  and  that  man 
was  perfect  and  upright,  and  one  that  feared  the 
Lord,  and  kept  away  from  evil.  And  there  was  born 
unto  him  seven  sons  and  three  daughters. 

Now  perhaps  you  would  like  to  know  how  rich  he 
was,  or  what  kind  of  wealth  he  had.  I  can  even  tell 
you  just  what  he  possessed,  and  you  can  count  it  up 
if  you  like.  His  substance  was  seven  thousand  sheep, 
and  three  thousand  camels,  and  five  hundred  yoke  of 
oxen,  and  five  hundred  she-asses;  so  that  this  man 
was  the  greatest  of  all  the  children  of  the  East. 

It  seems  that  his  sons  and  daughters  were  all  pros- 
perous along  with  Job.  They,  too,  had  happy  and 
beautiful  homes,  and  great  wealth,  and  all  that  the} 
could  desire.  Furthermore  they  had  a  very  pretty 
custom,  which  I  am  sure  you  will  be  pleased  to  know 
about,  by  way  of  celebrating  each  other's  birthdays. 
So  that  when  a  birthday  of  one  of  the  sons  came 
around,  all  of  the  other  sons  and  daughters  would 
gather  in  his  house  and  have  a  feast  with  him. 

I  suppose  you  already  begin  to  think  that  my  story 
has  opened  too  prosperously,  and  that  something  is 
going  to  happen  before  long.  And  you  are  right  in 
what  you  are  thinking  of; — something  did  happen. 

According  to  my  story,  we  are  told  how  the  great 
Tempter  came  one  day  to  the  Lord,  and  the  Lord 
asked  him:  "Whence  comest  thou?"  And  he  an- 
swered: "From  going  to  and  fro  in  the  earth,  and 
from  walking  up  and  down  in  it."  And  the  Lord 


CONQUERING  THE  LAND  OF  CANAAN.  253 

said  to  the  Tempter:  "Hast  thou  thought  of  my 
servant  Job?  Surely  there  is  none  like  him  in  the 
earth,  a  perfect  and  an  upright  man." 

Then  the  Tempter  answered  and  said:  "Doth  Job 
serve  for  nought?  Hast  thou  not  made  an  hedge 
about  him,  and  about  his  house,  and  about  all  that  he 
hath  on  every  side?  Thou  hast  blessed  the  work  of 
his  hands,  and  his  substance  is  increased  in  the  land; 
but  put  forth  thine  hand  now,  and  touch  all  that  he 
hath,  and  he  will  renounce  thee  to  thy  face." 

Now  the  Lord  thought  it  might  be  well  to  find  out 
whether  this  was  true,  or  at  least  to  put  Job  to  the 
test.  It  was  a  fact,  as  the  Tempter  had  said,  that 
Job  had  had  no  troubles  of  any  kind,  or  nothing  which 
might  lead  him  to  evil.  The  Great  Ruler  knew  only 
too  well  how  often  it  happened  that  men  and  women 
who  seemed  very  strong  when  nothing  went  against 
them,  would  yet  show  themselves  very  weak  in  the 
presence  of  a  great  temptation.  He  thought  now  that 
it  was  but  fair  for  Job  to  have  some  trials,  in  order 
that  the  man  might  show  his  real  character.  And  so 
he  said  to  the  Tempter:  "Behold  all  that  he  hath 
is  in  thy  power;  only  upon  himself  put  forth  not 
thine  hand." 

;We  cannot  help  feeling  just  a  least  bit  uneasy  about 
the  man  Job.  It  is  always  very  sad  and  painful  when 
a  man  whom  we  have  trusted,  and  looked  upon  as 
good  and  true,  shows  himself  in  another  light  accord- 
ing as  circumstances  change.  And  we  shall  be  very 
unhappy  if  it  turns  out  this  way  with  Job.  But  I 
must  tell  you  the  story  as  it  stands,  no  matter  how  it 
turns  out.  So  I  go  on  with  my  tale. 

It  fell  on  a  day  when  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Job 
were  eating  and  drinking  in  their  eldest  brother's 
house — keeping  his  birthday,  we  assume— that  there 
came  a  messenger  unto  Job  and  said :  "The  oxen  were 
plowing  and  the  asses  feeding  beside  them,  and  an 
enemy  fell  upon  them,  and  took  them  away ;  yea,  they 
have  slain  the  servants  with  the  edge  of  the  sword; 
and  I  only  am  escaped  alive  to  tell  thee." 

I  should  much  like  to  have  seen  the  face  of  Job 


254  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

just  at  that  moment.  It  was  the  first  time  in  his  life 
that  trouble  had  come  to  him;  and  I  should  like  to 
know  how  he  looked,  whether  he  turned  pale,  or 
whether  he  wore  just  the  same  face  as  before. 

But  while  the  man  was  yet  speaking,  there  came 
also  another  and  said:  "Fire  is  fallen  from  heaven, 
and  hath  burned  up  the  sheep,  and  the  servants,  and 
consumed  them,  and  I  only  have  escaped  alive  to  tell 
thee." 

Once  more  I  should  much  like  to  have  looked  at 
the  face  of  Job,  for  we  keep  wondering  whether  he  was 
yet  calm,  in  spite  of  what  was  being  told  to  him.  Few 
men  would  have  been  able  to  control  themselves  at 
such  a  time. 

But  while  the  second  man  was  yet  speaking,  there 
came  also  another  man  and  said:  "Some  bands  of 
men  have  fallen  on  the  camels  and  taken  them  away ; 
yea  and  have  slain  the  servants  with  the  edge  of  the 
sword,  and  I  only  have  escaped  alive  to  tell  thee." 

How  do  you  suppose  Job  looked  now?  What  sort 
of  a  face  did  he  have  by  this  time,  would  you  say? 
All  his  property  seems  to  have  been  destroyed  or  taken 
away  from  him.  Yet  worse  was  to  come. 

While  the  third  man  was  yet  speaking,  there  came 
also  another  and  said :  "Thy  sons  and  thy  daughters 
were  eating  and  drinking  in  their  eldest  brother's 
house,  and  behold  there  came  a  great  wind  and  smote 
the  four  corners  of  the  house,  and  it  fell  upon  them 
all,  and  they  are  dead,  and  I  only  am  escaped  alive  to 
tell  thee." 

It  must  be  owned  that  just  then  I  should  not  have 
^ared  to  look  upon  the  face  of  Job.  When  sorrow 
strikes  a  man,  we  feel  such  pity  it  almost  overcomes 
us  ourselves.  No,  I  should  have  wanted  for  a  little 
while  to  turn  my  eyes  away,  because  we  know  that  now 
the  face  of  Job  would  have  lost  its  calm,  if  calm  had 
been  there  before. 

Almost  any  man  would  have  given  way  after  all 
these  blows,  and  been  ready  to  curse  or  to  die.  Job 
might  have  stood  up  against  the  loss  of  all  his  wealth, 
but  where  were  all  his  sons  and  daughters,  his  dear 


CONQUERING  THE  LAND  OF  CANAAN. 

children  to  whom  he  had  hoped  to  give  all  he  pos- 
sessed ? 

And  what  do  you  suppose  Job  said  ?  Why,  he  rent 
his  mantle  in  twain,  and  bowed  down  solemnly,  and 
spoke  these  words:  "Naked  was  I  born,  and  naked 
shall  I  die ;  the  Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord  taketh  away ; 
blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord." 

Surely  you  would  say  this  man  had  stood  the  test, 
and  that  even  the  Tempter  would  have  felt  that  noth- 
ing could  be  done  to  overcome  the  patience  of  Job. 
But  no,  the  Tempter  came  to  the  Great  Ruler,  the 
Lord,  and  the  Lord  said  to  him:  "Whence  comest 
thou  ?"  And  the  Tempter  answered  as  before :  "From 
going  to  and  fro  in  the  earth,  and  from  walking 
up  and  down  in  it. '  And  the  Lord  said  to  the  Tempter : 
"Hast  thou  considered  my  servant  Job.  Surely  there 
is  none  like  him  on^he  earth;  a  perfect  and  an  up- 
right man ;  he  still  holdeth  fast  his  integrity,  in  spite 
of  what  thou  hast  done  to  him."  And  the  Tempter 
answered  and  said:  "Yes,  but  all  a  man  hath  will 
he  give  for  his  life;  put  forth  thine  hand  now  and 
touch  his  bones  and  his  flesh,  and  he  will  renounce  thee 
to  thy  face." 

It  seemed  best  to  the  Great  Ruler  to  put  Job  through 
the  whole  of  the  trial,  although  he  surely  must  have 
felt  that  the  man  had  had  enough  to  endure  already. 
But  he  answered  the  Tempter:  "Behold  he  is  in  thy 
hand;  only  spare  his  life." 

Alas  for  Job!  There  he  was,  with  all  his  wealth 
gone,  with  his  sons  and  daughters  dead,  desolate  in 
his  home ;  and  now  he  had  still  more  to  endure.  For 
the  Tempter  smote  Job  with  sore  boils,  from  the  sole 
of  his  foot  unto  the  crown  of  his  head.  Then  Job  took 
a  potsherd  to  scrape  hin>self  withal,  and  he  went  and 
sat  among  the  ashes.  Surely  we  should  have  felt 
some  pity  or  mercy  now,  if  Job  had  lost  his  patience 
and  used  some  bad  words.  It  is  hard  enough  for  a 
man  even  in  good  health  to  show  himself  brave  and 
strong  under  calamity,  but  when  he  is  ill  not  only  in 
mind  but  in  body,  it  is  still  worse. 

There  lay  Job  in  the  ashes,  in  sore  pain,  and  nothing 


256  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

left  to  cheer  his  heart,  save  the  memories  of  the  past. 
Then  his  wife  came  to  him.  She  did  not  have  the 
same  patience.  She  had  seen  all  that  her  husband  had 
to  suffer,  and  she  said  to  him :  "Curse  the  Lord,  and 
die."  A  good  many  persons  would  have  talked  in  thai 
way  I  suppose.  But  it  was  now  plain  that  Job  was 
the  same  man  in  adversity  that  he  had  been  in  pros- 
perity. You  remember  the  answer  he  gave  when 
all  his  sons  and  daughters  had  died ;  and  he  gave  the 
same  answer  now  to  his  wife:  'Thou  speakest  as 
one  of  the  foolish  speaketh.  What!  shall  we  receive 
good,  and  shall  we  not  be  ready  at  the  same  time  to 
receive  evil?" 

It  was  the  same  reply,  you  see :  The  Lord  gave,  and 
the  Lord  taketh  away;  blessed  be  the  name  of  tne 
Lord. 

Then  one  other  sad  affliction  fell  upon  Job.  Three 
men  came  to  him}  who  had  been  his  friends  in  his 
*ime  of  prosperity.  Probably  they  meant  well.  But 
they  sat  around  the  poor  man  giving  him  advice,  and 
telling  him  how  they  would  act  if  they  had  been  obliged 
to  suffer  all  this.  They  went  on  talking  to  Job  in  a 
way  that  would  wear  out  any  other  man's  patience. 
Sometimes  you  will  hear  of  persons  giving  advice  to 
people  in  trouble,  and  being  spoken  of  as  "Job's  com- 
forters." 

They  had  a  long,  long  talk  together,  although  I  need 
not  tell  you  any  more  about  it.  It  was  a  talk  about 
how  human  beings  have  to  suffer;  what  trials  they 
have  to  undergo..  Job  would  have  been  happier  a 
good  deal  if  these  comforters  had  staid  away,  because 
they  gave  advice  rather  than  sympathy  and  love. 

But  the  main  point  had  been  settled,  and  the  Great 
Ruler  was  more  than  pleased.  One  man  had  shown 
that  he  could  be  as  strong  and  brave  and  true  under 
adversity,  as  he  had  been  under  prosperity. 

And  so,  ere  long,  the  trials  of  Job  were  removed. 
Of  course  he  could  not  have  his  children  back  again ; 
but  wealth  was  restored  to  him  in  abundance,  much 
more  than  he  ever  had  before.  Now,  he  had  fourteen 
thousand  sheep,  and  six  thousand  camels,  and  a  thou- 


CONQUERING  THE  LAND  OF  CANAAN.  257 

sand  yoke  of  oxen,  and  a  thousand  she  asses.  Then, 
too,  he  had  other  sons  and  daughters.  All  his  sickness 
was  taken  away  from  him,  so  that  in  so  far  as  it  was 
possible  for  a  man  under  those  circumstances  fo  be 
happy  again,  Job  was  happy  once  more;  and  as  we 
are  told,  in  all  the  land  there  were  no  women  found 
so  fair  as  the  daughters  of  Job.  After  this  Job  lived 
a  long  while,  and  at  last  died,  being  old  and  full  of 
days.  And  I  think  what  will  always  come  to  our 
minds  when  speaking  of  this  man,  w;ll  be  the  words : 
"The  Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord  taketh'  away.  Blessed 
be  the  name  of  the  Lord." 

To  THE  TEACHER  :  The  story  of  Job  is  well  worthy 
of  careful  study.  While  in  the  complete  form  it  is 
subtle  and  full  of  "problems/'  y<*  the  story  can  stand 
by  itself  with  its  sublime  lesson  of  obedience.  Some 
reference  might  be  made  to  the  earlier  kind  of  "test" 
mentioned  in  these  lessons.  Ask  the  children  who 
it  was  that  was  put  to  such  a  test,  and  have  a  little 
review  of  what  Abraham  had  to  go  through,  and  what 
a  spirit  of  obedience  and  gentle  submission  he  dis- 
played. The  details  of  the  experiences  of  Job  should 
be  talked  over  because  of  their  classic  significance. 
Even  the  language  and  speeches  in  the  various  parts 
have  become  historical  as  woven  into  the  everyday  talk 
of  average  men  and  women. 

Memory  verse  :  Naked  was  I  born  and  naked  shall  J 
die;  the  Lord  gave  and  the  Lord  taketh  away;  blessed 
be  the  name  of  the  Lord. 


PART  V. 
ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  KINGDOM. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIIL 
The  Boy  Samuel. 

We  must  take  up  once  more  the  story  of  the  Children 
of  Israel  there  in  Canaan.  We  cannot  say  just  how 
many  hundreds  of  years  went  by  during  the  time  when 
they  had  no  kings  and  each  tribe  governed  itself  in  its 
own  way.  For  a  time  all  would  go  well  with  the 
people,  out  then  again  they  woirld  have  trouble  when 
the  Canaanites  would  make  war  upon  them,  conquer 
some  of  their  cities  and  rule  over  them.  The  great 
trouble  was,  as  I  have  told  you,  that  they  would  not 
hold  together  or  work  together  as  one  people;  they 
would  fall  into  bad  habits,  take  up  the  ways  of  the 
wicked  Canaanites, .  and  show  themselves  selfish  and 
thoughtless.  We  might  have  hoped  that  after  the 
death  of  Joshua,  when  they  had  been  so  successful 
in  their  wars  with  the  Canaanites,  that  they  would 
have  held  together  like  one  great  family,  so  that  there 
would  be  no  need  of  any  other  kind  of  government. 

But  now  I  rome  to  a  new  effort,  as  we  shall  call  it, 
in  their  history,  when  they  formed  a  kingdom  and 
began  to  have  kings  to  rule  over  them.  This  was  a 
great  change ;  for  not  in  their  whole  history  since  the 
time  when  Abraham  had  gone  from  the  land  of  the 
Chaldees  and  come  over  here  to  Canaan,  had  there 
ever  been  any  kings  in  Israel. 

You  must  learn  how  it  all  came  about,  this  great 
change.  It  had  some  good  in  it,  but  also  a  great 
deal  of  evil.  It  was  not  going  to  be  the  best  kind 

258 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  25Q 


of  government;  but,  at  any  rate,  it  would  be  better 
than  what  they  were  having  as  long  as  they  would  not 
hold  together,  and  were  being  ruled  over  by  the  wicked 
Canaanites. 

We  first  begin  by  letting  you  know  about  the  boy 
Samuel.  There  was  a  certain  man  whose  name  was 
Elkanah,  and  his  wife's  name  was  Hannah.  Accord- 
ing to  my  story,  Hannah  was  very  unhappy  because 
she  had  no  children. 

Elkanah  was  sorry,  of  course,  and  tried  very  hard 
to  make  his  wife  Hannah  happy  in  spite  of  her  dis- 
appointment, for  he  loved  his  wife.  Every  now  and 
then,  however,  he  would  find  her  in  tears,  and  he  would 
say  to  her:  "Hannah,  why  weepest  thou,  and  why 
eatest  thou  not  ?  And  why  is  thy  heart  grieved  ?  Am 
I  not  better  to  thee  than  many  sons?"  I  know  this 
reply  must  have  pleased  Hannah  very  much,  and  eased 
her  heart  of  her  sorrow. 

But  still  she  wanted  a  child,  and  she  made  up  her 
mind  that  if  a  son  came  to  her,  she  would  devote  him 
to  the  Lord,  and  not  keep  him  for  herself.  She  vowed 
that  the  boy  should  serve  in  the  place  where  the  people 
had  their  altar  and  made  their  offerings  to  the  Great 
Ruler 

At  last,  I  am  glad  to  say,  the  great  joy  came  to  them 
both;  a  little  son  was  born  to  them,  and  then  Han- 
nah told  her  husband  of  the  vow  she  had  made.  He 
was  quite  willing  to  help  her  carry  it  out,  and  they 
took  the  child  up  to  the  place  of  worship  and  gave  it 
over  to  Eli  the  priest  who  ministered  there. 

The  boy's  name  was  Samuel.  We  shall  have  to 
talk  further  about  him,  because  it  was  through  him 
that  the  Children  of  Israel  later  on  received  their  first 
king.  But  at  the  start  I  must  tell  you  about  the  priest 
who  had  charge  of  Samuel,  and  whose  name  was  Eli. 
I  am  sorry  to  say  that  Eli  had  two  sons  who  were 
bad  men.  They  lived  there  with  the  priest,  their 
father,  but  were  guilty  of  all  manner  of  wickedness. 
Now  Eli  ought  to  have  rebuked  or  punished  them; 
but  for  some  reason  he  had  not  the  heart  to  do  it, 
and  the  boys  grew  worse  and  worse. 


2(5o  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

In  the  meantime,  the  child  Samuel  who  had  been 
only  a  babe  in  his  mother's  arms  when  taken  to  Eli, 
was  growing  older,  so  that  he  began  to  talk  and  to 
think  for  himself,  and  to  help  Eli  by  many  little  ser- 
vices. Every  year  his  mother  made  a  little  coat,  and 
brought  it  up  to  him  when  she  came  with  her  hus- 
band to  offer  the  yearly  sacrifice  to  the  Lord. 

But  one  night  something  strange  happened  to  the  boy 
Samuel.  It  came  to  pass  when  Eli  was  laid  down  to 
sleep,  and  the  lamp  was  not  yet  gone  out,  and  Samuel 
also  was  laid  down  to  sleep,  that  a  voice  spoke  the 
boy's  name,  saying:  "Samuel."  And  the  boy  answered, 
"Here  am  I."* 

Then  Samuel  ran  unto  Eli,  and  said,  "Here  I  am ; 
for  thou  callest  me."  But  Eli  said,  "I  called  thee 
not,  lie  down  again/'  And  the  boy  went  and  laid 
down. 

Once  more  the  voice  was  heard  as  it  called,  say- 
ing: "Samuel."  And  Samuel  rose  and  went  to  Eli, 
and  said  again,  "Here  am  I,  for  thou  calkdst  me." 
And  Eli  said  once  more,  "I  called  thee  not,  my  son; 
lie  down  again." 

Samuel  did  not  know  what  to  make  of  this;  but 
the  little  boy  was  obedient  in  every  way,  and  not  at 
all  troubled  or  afraid,  and  he  went  back  and  laid  him- 
self down  to  sleep.  Then  once  more  the  voice  came 
to  him  a  third  time,  and  said  to  him :  "Samuel,"  and 
the  boy  arose  and  went  to  Eli  the  third  time,  and 
said :  "Here  am  I,  for  thou  calledst  me."  Eli  now 
thought  it  must  have  been  the  Ruler  of  the  World 
who  was  talking  to  Samuel,  and  he  said  to  the  boy, 
"If  the  voice  calleth  thee,  thou  shalt  say,  Speak,  for 
thy  servant  heareth." 

Samuel  accordingly  laid  down  in  his  place,  until 
the  voice  came  again,  saying :  "Samuel,  Samuel,"  and 
the  boy  answered  quietly,  "Speak,  for  thy  servant 
heareth." 

And  the  voice  said:  "Behold,  I  will  do  a  thing  in 
Israel,  at  which  both  the  ears  of  everyone  that  heareth 
it  shall  tingle.  In  that  day  I  will  perform  against  Eli 
all  that  I  have  spoken  concerning  his  house,  from 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  26l 

the  beginning  even  unto  the  end,  for  I  have  told  him 
that  I  will  judge  his  house  forever  because  of  the  in- 
iquity which  he  knew  in  the  wicked  conduct  of  his 
sons  and  in  that  he  did  not  restrain  them." 

We  know  that  Samuel  could  not  have  understood 
quite  what  all  this  meant;  for  as  yet  he  was  only  a 
child,  and  he  had  no  knowledge  of  all  the  wickedness 
in  the  world.  But  he  could  see  that  it  meant  somehow 
that  trouble  wab  going  to  come  to  his  dear  priest  Eli, 
whom  he  loved  and  served.  It  made  him  very  un- 
happy therefore  while  he  lay  quietly  waiting  until  the 
morning.  He  hated  very  much  indeed  to  tell  Eli 
anything  about  it,  and  hoped  that  Eli  vvould  not  ask 
him;  yet  if  he  were  questioned  he  was  going  to  tell 
the  truth,  for  there  was  nothing  else  for  him  to  do. 

Surely  enough,  Eli  met  him  in  the  morning,  and 
said:  "Samuel,  my  son."  And  the  boy  answered, 
"Here  am  I."  And  Eli  said:  "What  is  it  that  was 
said  to  thee  last  night.  I  pray  thee  hide  it  not  from 
me."  And  Samuel  told  him  every  whit,  and  hid  noth- 
ing from  him.  Then  Eli  said:  "Let  the  Lord  do 
what  seemeth  good." 

You  see,  Eli  meant  well ;  he  had  been  good  in  his 
way,  only  he  had  been  weak.  He  was  one  of  those 
persons  who  would  never  do  anybody  any  harm, 
always  be  gentle  and  kind ;  but  when  it  came  to  step- 
ping forward  and  acting  in  a  positive  way  by  showing 
courage,  he  would  probably  fail.  He  ought  to 
have  punished  his  sons,  and  restrained  them  from 
doing  all  that  wickedness ;  but  he  had  not  been  strong 
enough.  And  so  it  was  that  a  terrible  punishment 
came  upon  him  afterwards,  although  we  need  not 
stop  to  dwell  upon  it  here. 

In  the  meantime,  I  am  happy  to  say  that  Samuel  the 
boy  went  on  growing  into  youth,  and  young  manhood, 
brave  and  good  and  true  in  every  way  that  we  can 
think  of.  People  who  came  to  the  place  of  worship 
to  bring  their  sacrifices  or  offerings,  were  always 
pleased  with  him,  and  went  back  home  telling  their 
neighbors  and  friends  how  they  liked  Samuel.  What 
is  more,  he  began  to  show  himself  wise  in  many  ways, 


262  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

until  by  the  time  he  was  a  young  man  he  was  talked 
of,  all  over  Canaan,  wherever  the  Children  of  Israel 
lived.  The  people  began  now  to  feel  that  they  would 
have  a  great  teacher  in  Samuel,  a  man  of  wisdom,  to 
whom  they  could  go  for  advice  in  all  sorts  of  ways. 
They  called  him  a  "seer"  or  a  "prophet,"  because  that 
was  the  name  they  gave  to  their  great  teachers.  This 
word  prophet  I  should  advise  you  to  remember,  be- 
cause some  of  the  greatest  teachers  in  the  world  are 
spoken  of  nowadays  as  the  prophets  of  Israel — as 
the  wise  men  who  appeared  in  Canaan  after  the  time 
of  Samuel. 

To  THE  TEACHER:  Touch  upon  the  gentle  obedi- 
ence of  Samuel  and  upon  his  truthfulness.  Dwell 
on  the  spirit  of  trust  he  displayed  before  his  elders. 
Then  point  out  his  straightforward  honesty.  The 
name  of  Samuel's  father  and  mother  should  be  remem- 
bered. The  incident  concerning  Eli  and  his  sons 
might  be  passed  over  without  much  comment,  using 
it  rather  as  a  means  of  illustrating  the  character  of 
the  boy  Samuel. 

MEMORY  VERSES  : 

Here  am  I,  for  thou  calledst  me. 

Let  the  Lord  do  what  seemeth  good. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 
The  Call  of  the  Israelites  for  a  King. 

Now  that  the  Children  of  Israel  had  a  great  teacher 
in  Samuel,  they  began  to  feel  more  encouraged  about 
their  future  in  the  land  of  Canaan.  For  a  long  while 
they  had  had  no  such  a  leader.  He  was  known 
everywhere  among  the  Israelites,  and  they  made  him 
a  kind  of  judge,  so  that  whenever  they  had  any  kind 
of  trouble  they  would  come  to  him  and  get  him  to 
settle  it.  He  must  have  been  very  wise  to  have  pleased 
the  people  in  this  way,  and  a  new  kind  of  feeling  began 
to  show  itself  among  the  Israelites.  They  talked  more 
about  themselves  as  one  great  family,  and  began  to 
hold  together  more,  instead  of  each  tribe  staying  by 
itself  and  doing  what  it  pleased.  In  this  way  they 
were  showing  more  courage  in  fighting  the  wicked 
Canaanites,  and  began  to  have  a  little  more  freedom, 
although  they  were  still  ruled  over  for  the  most  part 
by  those  people,  especially  by  the  tribe  called  "Philis- 
tines." 

At  last  Samuel  came  to  be  an  old  man,  and  the  peo- 
ple saw  that  before  many  years  he  would  no  longer 
be  with  them.  And  they  were  very  much  troubled 
over  this.  They  were  afraid  that  they  would  lose 
what  they  had  gained,  because  they  would  be  without 
a  leader  or  a  teacher.  On  the  other  hand,  they  no- 
ticed how  all  the  other  tribes  of  people  around  them 
had  kings  to  rule  over  them;  and  somehow  they 
thought  that  if  they  could  only  have  a  king  like  those 
other  tribes,  they  would  be  much  more  prosperous, 
as  they  would  say,  and  be  able  to  throw  off  the  yoke 
of  the  Philistines. 

Then  all  the  elders  of  Israel  gathered  themselves 


264  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT    BIBLE   STORIES. 

together,  and  came  to  Samuel,  and  they  said  unto  him : 
"Behold  thou  art  old,  and  thy  sons  walk  not  in  thy 
ways.  Now  make  us  a  king  to  judge  us  like  all  the 
other  nations."  This  troubled  Samuel  very  much.  He 
felt  it  would  be  so  much  better  if  only  the  Children 
of  Israel  would  hold  together  like  one  great  family, 
and  not  try  to  have  one  ruler,  or  governor,  as  was 
usual  among  the  wicked  Canaanites.  But  he  talked 
to  the  Lord  over  All  about  it,  and  it  seemed  best  to 
let  the  people  have  their  way.  The  Great  Ruler  knew 
that  they  would  be  sorry  about  it  in  one  manner,  if 
glad  about  it  in  another.  And  he  said  to  Samuel: 
"Hearken  unto  their  voice ;  howbeit,  thou  shalt  protest 
solemnly  unto  them,  and  show  them  what  it  will 
mean  for  them  to  have  a  king  to  reign  over  them." 

Perhaps  it  would  interest  you  a  good  deal  if  I  let 
you  know  what  Samuel  said  to  this  people,  and  in 
what  way  he  described  how  it  would  be  to  them  if 
they  had  a  king.  He  was  of  course  not  speaking  of 
any  special  man  or  king,  but  of  the  habits  and  cus- 
toms of  the  people  who  had  kings  to  rule  over  them. 
And  Samuel  said  to  the  people:  "This  will  be  the 
manner  of  the  king  that  shall  reign  over  you;  he 
will  take  your  sons  and  appoint  them  unto  him  for 
his  chariots  and  to  be  his  horsemen;  and  they 
shall  run  before  his  chariots ;  and  he  will  appoint  them 
unto  him  for  captains  of  thousands,  and  captains  of 
fifties ;  and  he  will  set  some  to  plough  the  ground, 
and  to  reap  his  harvest,  and  to  make  his  instruments 
of  war,  and  the  instruments  of  his  chariots.  And  he 
will  take  your  daughters  to  be  cooks  and  to  be  bakers. 
And  he  will  take  your  fields,  and  your  vineyards,  and 
your  olive  yards,  even  the  best  of  them,  and  give  them 
to  his  servants.  And  he  will  take  your  manservants, 
and  your  maidservants,  and  your  goodliest  young 
men,  and  put  them  to  his  work.  And  ye  shall  cry  out 
in  that  day,  because  of  your  king  which  ye  shall  have 
chosen." 

One  would  suppose  that  this  would  have  been 
enough  to  discourage  the  people  from  wanting  to  have 
a  king.  It  was  a  dark  picture,  surely.  It  meant  really 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  265 

making  themselves  slaves  to  one  man.  But  few 
people  are  able  to  look  far  ahead  and  see  the  good 
and  evil  that  may  happen ;  if  they  want  a  thing  very 
much,  and  they  get  it,  they  will  be  sure  to  believe  that 
somehow  or  other  it  will  come  out  all  right,  and  they 
will  not  give  any  ear  to  the  warnings.  People  per- 
mit themselves  to  believe  almost  anything  they  like, 
if  they  want  anything  very  much;  and  that  was  the 
way  at  the  present  time  with  the  Children  of  Israel. 
Instead  of  listening  to  Samuel  or  paying  any  atten- 
tion to  what  he  said,  they  acted  as  if  they  had  not 
heard  a  word  of  it  all. 

They  only  kept  on  saying:  "Nay,  but  we  will  have 
a  king  over  us ;  that  we  may  be  also  like  all  the  na- 
tions, and  that  our  king  may  go  before  us  and 
fight  our  battles."  You  see,  that  was  what  they  were 
thinking  of,  fighting.  And  in  this  they  were  right, 
for  it  was  high  time  that  they  should  do  some  fighting, 
and  they  ought  to  have  done  it  long  before.  And 
Samuel  answered  them  therefore:  "Enough,  go  ye 
every  man  unto  his  city." 

There  was  only  one  thing  to  be  done — they  must 
have  a  king,  even  if  they  had  to  take  the  consequences. 
Samuel  knew  that  at  least  some  good  would  come  of 
it,  because  if  they  had  a  king  who  was  brave,  they 
might  show  more  courage  and  begin  to  fight  with 
the  Philistines,  so  as  to  be  able  to  get  possession  of 
the  land  once  more. 

It  rested  now  with  Samuel  to  find  a  king  for  the 
Children  of  Israel.  This  was  no  easy  matter,  because 
people  suitable  to  become  kings  and  govern  in  the 
right  way,  cannot  be  found  everywhere,  and  Samuel 
knew  that  even  the  best  man  he  could  find  would  not 
be  a  perfect  king.  But  he  was  going  to  try  and  serve 
the  Children  of  Israel  as  well  as  he  knew  how.  Then, 
too,  he  felt  that  the  Lord  over  All  would  guide  him 
in  making  the  choice. 

I  will  tell  you  now  what  took  place,  and  in  what 
way  Samuel  found  a  man  to  become  king  over  Israel. 
It  is  quite  an  interesting  story  at  the  outset,  and  I  am 
sure  you  will  be  glad  to  hear  it. 


266  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

Now  there  was  a  man  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  a 
mighty  man  of  valor,  who  had  a  son,  and  this  son's 
name  was  Saul,  a  young  man  and  a  good  man.  As 
we  are  told,  there  was  not  among  the  Children  of 
Israel  a  goodlier  person  than  he;  from  his  shoulders 
and  upward  he  was  higher  than  any  of  the  people. 
Plainly,  therefore,  Saul  must  have  been  a  very  tall 
young  man. 

It  so  happened  that  the  asses  of  Saul's  father  were 
lost.  What  was  the  cause  of  this  I  do  not  know. 
They  may  have  wandered  away  when  Saul's  father 
was  not  thinking  about  it.  But  he  said  to  his  son: 
"Take  now  one  of  the  servants  with  you,  and  arise, 
go  seek  the  asses." 

And  Saul  did  as  he  was  told,  and  went  from  one 
country  to  another,  but  could  not  find  the  asses.  At 
last  he  thought  it  best  to  give  up  the  search,  suppos- 
ing that  his  father  would  grow  anxious  about  him. 
He  said  therefore  to  his  servant,  "Let  us  return,  lest 
my  father  leave  caring  for  the  asses,  and  take  thought 
for  us."  And  the  servant  said  to  Saul :  "Behold  now 
there  is  in  this  city  a  seer,  and  he  is  a  man  that  is  held 
in  high  honor;  let  us  go  thither;  perhaps  he  can  tell 
us  concerning  our  journey  whereon  we  go." 

Then  Saul  said  to  his  se'rvant :  "Well  said ;  come,  let 
us  go."  So  they  went  up  to  the  city  where  Samuel 
was.  As  they  went  up  the  ascent  to  the  city  they 
found  young  maidens  going  out  to  draw  water,  and 
said  to  them :  "Is  the  seer  here  ?"  and  they  answered 
them  and  said,  "He  is ;  make  haste  now  for  he  is  come 
today  into  the  city;  as  soon  as  ye  be  come  into  the 
city,  ye  shall  straightway  find  him." 

In  the  meantime,  the  Great  Ruler  had  told  Samuel 
the  day  before,  saying:  "Tomorrow  about  this  time 
a  man  out  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  shall  come  to  thee, 
and  thou  shalt  anoint  him  to  be  the  prince  over 
Israel." 

And  so  when  Samuel  met  Saul  the  next  day  at 
once  he  knew  that  this  was  the  man  whom  he  was  to 
anoint  and  make  king  over  the  Israelites.  And  as 
Saul  drew  near  to  Samuel  in  the  gate  he  said :  "Tell 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  267 

me,  I  pray  thee,  where  is  the  seer's  house?"  And 
Samuel  answered  and  said :  "I  am  the  seer ;  ye  shall 
eat  with  me  to-day ;  and  in  the  morning  I  will  let  thee 
go,  and  I  will  tell  thee  all  that  is  in  thy  heart.  And 
as  for  thy  asses  that  were  lost  three  days  ago,  set  not 
thy  mind  on  them,  for  they  are  found." 

All  this  surprised  Saul  very  much,  as  he  did  not 
know  what  great  destiny  was  to  befall  him.  It  puz- 
zled him  that  the  seer  should  speak  to  him  in  such  a 
way,  as  if  he,  Saul,  were  a  very  important  man.  And 
he  said  to  Samuel :  "Am  I  not  of  the  smallest  of  the 
tribes  of  Israel,  and  my  family  the  least  of  all  the 
families  of  the  tribe;  wherefore  speakest  thou  to  me 
after  this  manner?" 

But  Samuel  took  him  and  his  servant  and  brought 
them  to  his  house  and  gave  them  the. chief  place  at  the 
table.  So  Saul  did  eat  with  Samuel  that  day;  and 
then  they  had  a  talk  together  on  the  housetop.  This 
custom  will  interest  you,  for  in  that  part  of  the  world 
the  houses  are  often  very  low,  and  in  the  cool  of  the 
day  the  people  evidently  go  up  on  the  tops  of  their 
houses  and  talk  together.  Just  what  they  said,  Sam- 
uel and  Saul  together,  I  do  not  know ;  but  we  suppose 
it  was  told  to  Saul  how  he  was  to  be  chosen  king 
over  the  Israelites.  The  next  morning  Samuel  called 
to  him :  "Up,  that  I  may  send  thee  away."  And  Saul 
arose  and  they  went  out,  both  of  them,  he  and  Sam- 
uel. As  he  was  going  down  at  the  end  of  the  city 
Samuel  said  to  Saul:  "Bid  thy  servant  pass  on  be- 
fore, but  stand  thou  still  at  this  time."  Then  Samuel 
took  the  vial  of  oil  and  poured  it  upon  his  head  and 
kissed  him  and  anointed  him  to  be  prince  over  the 
Children  of  Israel. 

Saul  now  returned  homeward,  learning  as  Samuel 
had  told  him,  that  the  asses  had  been  found;  but  he 
said  nothing  for  a  time  about  having  been  anointed  by 
the  seer. 

After  this,  Samuel  being  now  a  very  old  man,  called 
the  people  together  and  said  to  them :  "Ye  have  said, 
'Set  a  king  over  us/  Now,  therefore,  present  your- 
selves by  your  tribes  and  by  your  thousands."  The 


268  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

tribes  of  Israel  came  near,  and  then  Samuel  chose 
out  the  tribe  of  Benjamin;  then  the  tribe  of  Benjamin 
came  up  closer,  and  Samuel  chose  out  the  family  of 
Saul,  and  then  Saul  was  looked  for,  but  when  they 
sought  him  he  could  not  be  found.  It  seems  he  must 
have  been  all  in  a  tremble  over  what  was  coming  to 
him,  and  he  had  gone  away  and  hid  himself.  But  they 
ran  and  fetched  him,  and  when  he  stood  among  the 
people,  he  was  higher  than  all  the  people,  from  his 
shoulders  upward.  And  Samuel  said  to  all  of  the  peo- 
ple :  "See  ye  him  who  hath  been  chosen ;  there  is  none 
like  him  among  all  the  people."  And  all  the  people 
shouted  and  said,  "Let  the  king  live!" 

And  so  at  last  they  had  what  they  had  been  longing 
for,  a  king;  and  the  Children  of  Israel  for  the  time 
being  were  pleased  and  satisfied. 

To  THE  TEACHER:  The  veneration  for  Samuel 
might  be  dwelt  upon  in  this  lesson.  The  reason  for 
it  could  be  attributed  to  some  extent  to  the  absence 
of  self-assertion  on  his  part.  On  the  other  hand,  in- 
dicate how  reluctant  people  are,  to  take  any  sort  of 
good  advice  when  it  goes  against  their  immediate 
wishes,  as  with  the  Children  of  Israel  at  this  time 
The  modest  character  of  Saul  might  be  commented  on, 
because  it  must  be  contrasted  with  the  change  which 
took  place  in  him  later  on.  The  speech  of  Samuel 
could  be  recited  aloud,  telling  what  would  happen  if 
the  people  succeeded  in  having  a  king.  Note  how  the 
people  gave  no  reply,  save  just  in  the  determined  wish 
that  a  king  should  be  selected  for  them. 


CHAPTER  XL. 
Saul  the  King. 

All  was  now  going  to  be  changed  among  the  Israel- 
ites. How  much  it  meant,  they  themselves  could  not 
see.  At  first,  to  be  sure,  everything  went  on  just  as 
before.  Saul  did  not  set  up  a  government  or  do  any 
of  those  things  which  had  been  spoken  of  by  Sam- 
uel, when  Samuel  warned  the  people  what  they  must 
expect  if  they  had  a  king  to  rule  over  them. 

The  whole  experience  was  new  and  strange  to  the 
young  man.  He  did  not  know  how  he  was  to  act  as 
king,  or  what  it  meant  to  be  a  ruler.  All  he  did, 
therefore,  was  to  go  back  home  and  wait  until  the 
time  should  come  when  the  people,  should  call  him 
to  lead  them  in  some  way.  In  spite  of  what  Samuel 
had  done,  as  yet  there  was  no  real  king  and  no  real 
kingdom. 

But  the  need  came  soon  enough.  The  Israelites 
were  surrounded  by  people  who  hated  them,  wicked 
tribes  who  abused  them  in  many  ways  and  ruled  over 
them  from  time  to  time.  Now,  it  seems  that  one  of 
those  tribes,  called  the  Ammonites,  came  up  and  at- 
tacked one  of  the  tribes  of  Israel.  And  the  Israelites 
felt  that  they  were  not  strong  enough  at  first  to  resist, 
and  so  they  sent  out  messengers  to  the  king  of  the 
Ammonites,  asking  him  on  what  terms  he  would 
accept  their  services.  And  the  king  sent  back  the 
reply:  "On  the  condition  that  all  your  right  eyes  be 
put  out." 

The  people  knew  what  this  implied  well  enough. 
It  would  be  the  worst  and  most  brutal  kind  of  slav- 
ery. The  fathers  looked  into  their  children's  eyes 
and  thought  what  it  would  mean  for  the  eyes  of  those 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

little  ones  to  be  put  out,  or  the  eyes  of  their  wives, 
and  it  was  more  than  they  could  stand.  And  the  eld- 
ers said  to  the  king  of  the  Ammonites:  "Give  us 
seven  days  in  which  to  decide."  Then  they  sent  mes- 
sengers at  once  to  the  place  where  Saul  lived,  telling 
the  people  of  it.  And  all  the  people  lifted  up  their 
voices  and  wept.  And  behold,  Saul  came,  following 
the  oxen  out  of  the  field ;  and  Saul  said :  "What  aileth 
the  people  that  they  weep?"  And  the  messengers  told 
him  what  had  been  threatened  them  from  the  Am- 
monites. 

Then  the  spirit  of  a  true  king  began  to  show  itself 
in  Saul.  He  saw  how  the  time  had  come  for  him  to 
go  forth  as  a  leader  and  set  up  a  kingdom.  He  took 
a  yoke  of  oxen  and  cut  them  in  pieces,  and  sent  the 
pieces  throughout  all  the  borders  of  Israel  by  the  hands 
of  messengers,  saying:  "Whosoever  cometh  not  forth 
after  Saul,  and  after  Samuel,  so  shall  it  be  done  unto 
his  oxen."  And  the  people  came  out  as  one  man. 

Saul  now  led  the  army  forth  and  attacked  the  Am- 
monites, and  smote  them  until  the  heat  of  the  day. 
And  it  came  to  pass  that  the  Ammonites  were  scattered 
so  that  not  two  of  them  were  left  together. 

This  was  a  great  victory  for  the  Children  of  Israel, 
the  first  one,  I  suppose,  that  they  had  had  for  many 
years.  They  were  more  than  satisfied,  therefore,  with 
the  idea  that  they  were  going  to  have  a  king.  And 
Samuel  said  to  the  people :  "Come  and  let  us  go  to 
Gilgal  and  establish  the  kingdom  there."  And  the 
people  went  to  Gilgal,  and  there  they  made  Saul  king. 
And  Saul  and  all  the  men  of  Israel  rejoiced  greatly. 

But  the  most  striking  event  at  this  time,  I  think, 
was  not  so  much  that  great  battle,  or  the  formal  way 
in  which  they  made  Saul  king  after  their  victory  when 
they  went  to  Gilgal,  but  rather  the  farewell  speech 
made  to  them  at  this  time  by  Samuel.  He  had  been 
their  leader  and  teacher  all  his  life.  They  had  never 
had  a  king  before.  Now  that  he  was  no  longer  to 
guide  them,  he  wanted  to  say  a  few  words  of  warn- 
ing. Wise  men,  you  see,  can  often  look  quite  a  long 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  2JI 

distance  into  the  future,  and  they  are  the  men  who 
point  out  the  dangers  which  most  people  do  not 
think  of. 

At  this  time,  when  Saul  had  been  made  king  and 
all  the  people  were  holding  a  great  festival  in  their 
delight  over  the  founding  of  the  kingdom,  Samuel 
asked  the  people  for  silence.  It  was  a  solemn  moment, 
as  the  great  crowd  stood  there  waiting  and  listening. 

And  Samuel  said  to  the  Children  of  Israel :  "Be- 
hold, I  hearkened  unto  your  voice,  in  all  that  ye  have 
said  unto  me,  and  have  made  a  king  over  you.  And 
now,  behold,  the  king  walketh  before  you.  I  am  old 
and  gray-headed ;  I  have  walked  before  you  from  my 
youth  to  this  day.  Here  I  am — witness  against  me. 
Whose  ox  have  I  taken,  or  whose  ass  have  I  taken? 
Or  whom  have  I  defrauded?  Of  whose  hand  have  I 
taken  a  bribe  to  blind  mine  eyes  therewith?"  And 
they  said:  "Thou  hast  not  defrauded  us,  nor  op- 
pressed us,  neither  hast  thou  taken  a  bribe  of  any 
kind."  And  he  said  unto  them :  "The  Lord  is  witness 
against  you  that  ye  have  not  found  aught  against  me. 
Ye  said  unto  me :  "A  king  shall  rule  over  us.  Now, 
therefore,  behold  the  king  whom  ye  have  chosen.  If 
ye  will  fear  the  Lord  and  serve  him,  and  not  rebel 
against  the  commandments  you  have  received,  both 
ye  and  also  the  king  that  reigneth  over  you — well! 
Only  fear  the  Lord  and  serve  him  in  truth,  with  all 
your  heart.  Turn  ye  not  aside,  for  then  should  ye 
go  after  vain  things,  which  cannot  profit  nor  deliver; 
but  if  ye  shall  still  do  wickedly,  ye  shall  be  consumed, 
both  ye  and  your  king." 

We  might  suppose  that  this  would  be  the  last  word 
which  we  should  hear  from  the  aged  Samuel.  He 
was  no  longer  the  leader  of  the  Children  of  Israel. 
In  his  place  they  had  Saul,  their  king.  But  once 
more,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  Samuel  comes  before  us  as 
a  judge,  and  he  is  to  appear,  not  as  a  judge  of  the 
people  so  much  as  a  judge  of  their  new  king,  Saul. 

For  a  time  all  went  well.  New  hope  had  come  to 
the  Children  of  Israel ;  they  had  a  great  king,  and  he 
was  leading  them  to  many  victories.  The  people  were 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE   STORIES. 

no  longer  afraid  of  the  Philistines.  They  were  assem- 
bled in  armies  and  beginning  once  more  to  conquer 
the  country  for  themselves.  As  we  are  told:  When 
Saul  was  made  king  over  Israel  he  fought  against  all 
his  enemies  on  every  side,  against  the  Moabites  and 
against  the  children  of  Ammon,  and  against  the  Edom- 
ites  and  against  the  Philistines.  Whithersoever  Saul 
turned,  he  put  his  enemies  to  the  worse.  And  he  did 
valiantly  and  smote  the  Amalekites,  and  delivered 
Israel  out  of  the  hands  of  the  wicked  people  of 
Canaan. 

You  see,  Saul  had  begun  well,  as  a  true  king.  But  the 
one  great  thing  which  the  Children  of  Israel  long  years 
before  had  had  so  much  trouble  in  learning,  you  re- 
member, was  to  obey  rules.  It  was  because  they  could 
not  do  this,  that  they  had  been  obliged  to  stay  forty 
years  in  the  wilderness;  and  it  was  for  this  same 
reason,  I  suppose,  that  they  had  been  such  a  long 
time  in  conquering  the  land  of  Canaan  and  taking  full 
possession  of  the  Promised  Land. 

Now  that  a  king  was  to  reign  over  the  people  of 
Israel,  everything  depended  on  whether  the  man 
chosen  for  this  office  would  know  not  only  how  to 
rule,  but  also  obey  rules  himself;  for  kings  cannot  do 
as  they  please,  if  they  are  good  kings,  any  more  than 
the  people  can.  They  must  know  how  to  obey  laws 
and  set  an  example  to  the  people.  In  this  respect  Saul 
had  not  yet  been  tried,  and  Samuel  did  not  know  how 
he  would  act.  He  had  chosen  this  young  man  as  the 
best  king  he  could  find  for  the  Israelites;  yet  before 
he  died  he  wanted  to  make  sure  that  Saul  could  obey 
rules  or  commands.  And  this  is  what  Samuel  did. 

It  was  the  time  when  Saul  was  fighting  with  the 
Amalekites,  and  Samuel  had  said  to  Saul,  speaking 
for  the  Great  Ruler :  "Now  go  and  smite  the  Amale- 
kites, and  utterly  destroy  all  that  they  have,  and  spare 
them  not;  slay  both  man  and  beast,  ox  and  sheep, 
camel  and  ass." 

And  Saul  went  forth  with  his  army,  like  a  brave 
king,  and  fought  with  the  Amalekites,  and  slew  them 
with  great  slaughter,  and  utterly  destroyed  all  the  peo- 
ple with  the  edge  of  the  sword. 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  273 

But  what  else  do  you  suppose  he  did  ?  What  about 
the  oxen  and  the  sheep,  the  camels  and  asses 
Samuel  had  spoken  of  ?  Now,  it  evidently  struck  the 
young  man,  the  king,  that  he  would  do  something  else 
in  this  other  matter;  he  would  follow  his  own  best 
judgment.  And  so  he  spared  the  best  of  the  sheep 
and  the  oxen  and  the  lambs,  and  he  did  not  destroy 
them.  It  may  be  that  he  felt  that  he  no  longer  needed 
to  obey  the  commands  of  Samuel  or  of  the  Lord 
Over  All,  but  that  as  a  king  he  had  the  right  to  do  just 
as  he  pleased. 

And  Samuel  came  to  Saul,  and  Saul  said  to  him: 
"I  have  performed  the  commandment  of  the  Lord." 
Just  think  of  that  speech  on  the  part  of  the  king !  It 
may  have  been  the  first  lie  that  he  had  ever  told.  He 
knew  well  enough  that  he  had  not  performed  the  com- 
mand in  the  right  way.  And  Samuel's  heart  sank 
within  him,  for  he  had  found  out  that  Saul  not  only 
had  failed  to  keep  the  command  laid  upon  him,  but 
now  had  told  a  lie  concerning  it.  Think  how  it  must 
have  startled  Saul  at  this  moment  as  he  heard  the 
voice  of  the  old  man,  the  seer  whom  he  had  met  a  few 
years  ago,  as  Samuel  said:  "What  meaneth,  then, 
this  bleating  of  the  sheep  in  mine  ears,  and  the  lowing 
of  the  oxen  which  I  hear?"  And  Saul,  seeing  that 
he  had  been  found  out,  tried  to  avoid  the  blame  by 
laying  it  on  the  people,  and  said  :  "They  have  brought 
them  from  the  Amalekites,  for  the  people  spared  the 
best  of  the  sheep  and  the  oxen  to  sacrifice  them  unto 
the  Lord." 

And  the  seer  said  to  Saul :  "I  will  tell  thee  what  the 
Lord  hath  said  to  me."  And  Saul  said,  "Say  on."  And 
Samuel  answered,  speaking  for  the  Lord :  "Though 
thou  wast  little  in  thine  own  sight,  wast  thou  not  made 
the  head  over  the  tribes  of  Israel?  And  the  Lord 
annointed  thee  king  over  Israel,  and  he  sent  thee  on 
a  journey  and  said,  'Go,  utterly  destroy  the  Amalekites 
and  fight  against  them  until  they  be  consumed.' 
Wherefore  didst  thou  not  obey  the  voice  of  the  Lord, 
but  didst  fly  upon  the  spoil,  and  do  that  which  was  evil 
in  the  sight  of  the  Lord?"  And  Saul  again  tried  to 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

get  out  of  the  trouble  by  answering  once  more:  "The 
people  took  of  the  spoil,  sheep  and  oxen,  to  make  an 
offering  to  the  Lord."  And  then  came  the  solemn 
reply  of  Samuel,  which  the  world  has  never  forgtten : 
"Hath  the  Lord  as  great  delight  in  offerings  or  sacri- 
fices as  he  has  in  obedience?  Behold,  to  obey  is  bet- 
ter than  to  make  sacrifices.  Because  thou  hast  re 
jected  the  command  laid  upon  thee,  thou  hast  been 
rejected  from  being  king." 

Then  the  awful  fact  came  home  to  Saul.  He  was 
conscience-stricken,  and  hardly  knew  what  to  say,  as 
he  finally  answered:  "I  have  done  wrong,  for  I  have 
broken  the  commandment  laid  upon  me,  because  I 
feared  the  people  and  obeyed  their  voice.  Now,  there- 
fore, I  pray  thee,  pardon  my  sin." 

But  it  was  too  late  for  poor  Saul.  He  had  broken 
a  command,  he  had  failed  to  keep  the  law  laid  upon 
him.  Even  if  he  was  sorry,  he  no  longer  could  be 
trusted.  And  Samuel  could  only  repeat  solemnly 
again:  "Thou  hast  rejected  the  command  and  been 
rejected  from  being  king  over  Israel." 

To  THE  TEACHER  :  The  speech  of  Samuel  in  his  old 
age  as  a  farewell  to  the  people  when  surrendering 
his  authority  over  them,  should  be  carefully  studied  as 
explaining  his  character.  Make  a  good  deal  of  the 
story  of  Saul's  sin  and  disobedience.  Compare  it  with 
the  giving  in  to  temptation  on  the  part  of  Adam  and 
Eve  in  the  Garden  of  Eden.  Show  how  hard  it  is  to 
do  exactly  right,  and  how  easily  one  may  give  way 
when  one  begins  to  feel  one's  power,  or  has  been  ac- 
customed to  do  as  one  pleases.  The  reason  why  Saul 
was  condemned,  should  be  discussed,  pointing  out  that 
even  a  king  may  not  be  a  good  ruler  unless  he  has 
principle  and  can  keep  to  rules  and  obey  laws. 

MEMORY  VERSES  :  //  ye  shall  do  wickedly  ye  shall 
be  consumed,  both  ye  and  your  king. 

Hath  the  Lord  as  great  delight  in  offerings  and  sac- 
rifice as  he  has  in  obedience;  behold,  to  obey  is  better 
than  to  make  sacrifices. 

Thou  hast  rejected  the  command  and  been  rejected 
from  being  king  over  Israel. 


CHAPTER  XLI. 
The  Boy  David. 

Samuel  had  now  to  find  a  new  man  for  a  king  over 
Israel.  As  yet,  however,  we  take  it  for  granted  that 
the  people  still  clung  to  Saul,  and  we  are  quite  sure 
that  Saul  would  not  have  been  ready  to  step  down  and 
let  somebody  else  become  king  in  his  place.  But 
Samuel  knew  that  his  had  to  be,  just  the  same.  It 
was  only  a  matter  of  time,  and  then  the  reign  of  Saul 
would  come  to  an  end,  and  a  new  man  become  king 
over  Israel.  I  suppose  Samuel  felt  very  unhappy  over 
all  this,  because  he  was  much  less  sure  now  that  a 
really  good  man  could  be  found,  inasmuch  as  he  had 
thought  that  Saul  was  going  to  make  a  good  king,  and 
would  be  a  man  who  could  be  trusted,  who  would 
serve  the  people  and  set  them  an  example  of  obedience. 
But,  as  we  are  told,  the  Lord  said  to  Samuel:  'Till 
thine  horn  with  oil  and  go ;  I  will  send  thee  to  Jesse  at 
Bethlehem,  and  there  thou  shalt  find  a  king  among 
his  sons."  And  Samuel  said:  "How  can  I  go?  If 
Saul  hear  it,  he  will  kill  me."  But  he  was  told  to  go, 
nevertheless.  And  Samuel  did  that  which  the  Great 
Ruler  commanded  and  came  to  Bethlehem;  and  the 
elders  of  the  city  came  to,  meet  him  and  said,  "Comest 
thou  peaceably  ?"  and  he  said,  "Peaceably." 

Then  he  found  Jesse  and  called  him  and  the  sons 
of  Jesse  to  sacrifice  before  the  Lord.  As  yet  Samuel 
did  not  know  which  one  of  the  sons  would  become  the 
king.  One  after  the  other  stood  before  him,  and 
he  waited  to  decide. 

When  the  first  son  appeared,  Samuel  thought  that 
this  was  to  be  the  one;  but  the  Great  Ruler  said  to 
Samuel:  "Look  not  upon  his  countenance,  or  upon 

275 


276  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

his  stature,  because  I  have  rejected  him.  The  Lord 
seeth  not  as  man  seeth,  for  man  looketh  on  the  out- 
ward appearance,  but  the  Lord  looketh  on  the  heart/' 

Then  Jesse  called  the  next  son  and  made  him  pass 
before  Samuel,  and  Samuel  said:  "This  is  not  the 
one."  Then  again  the  third  son  came,  and  the  third 
son  was  rejected.  And  so  Jesse  made  seven  of  his 
sons  pass  before  Samuel,  and  Samuel  said  to  Jesse: 
"The  Lord  hath  not  chosen  these.  Are  here  all  thy 
children?"  And  Jesse  said:  "There  remaineth  yet 
the  youngest,  and  behold,  he  keepeth  the  sheep."  And 
Samuel  said  to  Jesse:  "Send  and  fetch  him,  for  we 
will  not_sit  down  until  he  come  hither." 

And  Jesse  sent  and  brought  him  in.  Now,  the  boy 
was  ruddy,  and  withal  of  a  beautiful  countenance,  and 
goodly  to  look  upon.  Samuel  knew  at  once  that  this 
was  the  one  whom  the  Lord  meant.  He  could  tell  it 
somehow  by  the  look  in  the  boy's  face.  There  was 
something  noble  and  kindly  about  him.  And  Samuel 
took  the  horn  of  oil  and  anointed  him  there  in  the 
presence  of  his  brothers.  What  it  all  meant,  the  boy 
himself  could  not  understand.  Samuel  did  not  ex- 
plain to  him,  I  suppose,  waiting,  perhaps,  until  some 
future  time  to  tell  him  how  he  was  to  become  king 
over  Israel.  And  the  boy's  name  was  David. 

Now  I  shall  tell  you  how  young  David  made  a  great 
name  for  himself  in  a  battle  with  the  Philistines.  Just 
how  long  it  was  after  the  anointing  by  Samuel,  I 
cannot  say.  David  was  as  yet  scarcely  a  grown  man, 
and  had  been  kept  by  his  father  to  tend  the  sheep. 

In  the  meantime  the  Philistines,  who  had  long  be- 
fore made  so  much  trouble  for  the  Israelites,  had  gath- 
ered together  their  armies  to  battle.  Although  they 
had  been  defeated  before  by  Saul,  yet  they  had  not 
been  wholly  conquered,  and  now  they  rose  up  once 
more,  having  made  up  their  minds  that  they  would 
overthrow  the  Israelites.  The  time  was  now  coming, 
when  it  would  be  decided  once  for  all  which  should 
rule  Canaan,  the  Israelites  or  the  Philistines. 

The  army  of  the  Philistines  was  now  larger  than 
ever  before.  Even  Saul  the  king  was  dismayed.  He 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  277 

and  the  men  of  Israel  were  gathered  together  and  set 
in  battle  array  against  the  Philistines. 

And  the  Philistines  stood  on  a  mountain  on  the  one 
side,  and  the  Israelites  stood  on  a  mountain  on  the 
other  side,  and  there  was  a  valley  between  them.  And 
there  went  out  a  champion  out  of  the  camp  of  the 
Philistines,  a  giant,  taller  than  any  other  man  in  all 
the  land  of  Canaan.  It  is  said  that  he  was  eight  or 
nine  feet  high,  perhaps  the  tallest  man  that  ever  lived ; 
then,  too,  he  was  great  and  strong  in  every  way,  so 
that  it  gave  terror  to  the  people  even  to  look  at  him. 

As  we  are  told,  he  had  a  helmet  of  brass  upon  his 
head,  and  he  was  clad  with  a  coat  of  mail,  and  he  had 
greaves  of  brass  upon  his  legs,  and  a  javelin  of  brass 
between  his  shoulders,  and  the  staff  of  his  spear  was 
like  a  weaver's  beam.  And  his  shield  bearer  went  be- 
fore him.  His  name,  as  we  know,  was  Goliath. 

And  Goliath  stood  and  cried  out  unto  the  army  of 
Israel :  "Why  are  ye  come  out  to  set  your  battle  ar- 
ray? Am  I  not  a  Philistine,  and  ye  servants  to  Saul? 
Choose  you  a  man  from  you,  and  let  him  come  down 
to  me.  If  he  be  able  to  fight  with  me  and  kill  me, 
then  will  we  be  your  servants ;  but  if  I  prevail  against 
him  and  kill  him,  then  shall  ye  be  our  servants  and 
serve  us."  And  the  Philistine  said:  "I  defy  the  ar- 
mies of  Israel  this  day.  Give  me  a  man,  that  we  may 
fight  together."  And  when  Saul  and  all  Israel  heard 
those  words  of  the  Philistine,  they  were  dismayed  and 
greatly  afraid. 

This  was  anything  but  a  cheerful  time  for  the  Israel- 
ites. There  was  their  king  whom  they  had  chosen 
and  who  was  looked  up  to  by  the  people,  and  even  he 
was  afraid  of  that  giant,  although  we  can  scarcely 
blame  him.  But  now  I  come  to  what  young  David 
had  to  do  with  all  this,  because  I  am  telling  this  story 
solely  on  account  of  David. 

You  remember  we  said  that  David's  father  was 
named  Jesse,  and  the  three  eldest  sons  of  Jesse  had 
gone  after  Saul,  while  David  was  kept  behind  to  feed 
his  father's  sheep  at  Bethlehem.  But  by  and  by  Jesse 
became  very  anxious  to  hear  about  his  three  sons  who 


278  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE   STORIES. 

were  in  the  army.  He  did  not  know  but  that  something 
might  have  happened  to  them,  and  he  was  aware  how 
dangerous  the  Philistines  were.  None  other  of  the  Ca- 
naanites  were  so  much  dreaded  by  the  Children  of 
Israel. 

And  Jesse  said  unto  David:  "Take  now  to  thy 
brethren  this  parched  corn,  and  these  ten  loaves,  and 
carry  them  quickly  to  the  camp  to  thy  brethren,  and 
bring  these  ten  cheeses  unto  the  captain  of  the  com- 
pany, and  see  how  thy  brethren  fare."  And  David 
rose  up  early  in  the  morning  and  left  the  sheep  with 
the  keeper,  and  took  and  went  as  Jesse  had  commanded 
him;  and  he  came  to  the  army  just  as  the  men  were 
going  forth  to  fight.  v 

And  David  left  his  goods  in  the  hands  of  the  keeper 
of  the  baggage  and  ran  ahead  among  the  soldiers  and 
came  and  saluted  his  brothers.  Now  it  was  just  at 
this  very  time  when  the  giant  Philistine,  whose  name 
was  Goliath,  had  stepped  forth  from  the  ranks  of 
the  Philistines  and  spoken  those  bold  words  I  have 
told  you  of,  and  David  heard  them. 

And  the  men  of  Israel  said  to  the  boy:  "Have  you 
seen  this  giant  that  is  come  up  ?  Surely  it  is  to  defy 
Israel  that  he  has  come  up,  and  it  shall  be  that  the  man 
who  killeth  him,  the  king  will  enrich  him  with  great 
riches,  and  will  give  him  his  daughter  for  a  wife." 
And  David  said:  "Who  is  this  Philistine  that  he 
should  dare  to  defy  the  armies  of  the  Lord?"  And 
his  eldest  brother  heard  him  say  this,  and  was  very 
angiry  with  him,  thinking  that  the  lad  was  talking 
boastfully.  And  he  said  to  David:  "Why  art  thou 
come  down,  and  with  whom  hast  thou  left  those  few 
sheep  in  the  wilderness?  Thou  hast  come  down  that 
thou  mightest  see  the  battle."  But  David  only  an- 
swered: "What  have  I  now  done?  Is  there  not  a 
cause?"  And  he  turned  away  from  his  brother  and 
kept  making  the  same  remark  to  one  soldier  after  an- 
other: "Who  is  this  Philistine  that  should  dare  to 
defy  the  armies  of  the  Lord?"  And  as  one  man  after 
another  heard  the  lad  say  this,  finally  his  words  were 
carried  to  Saul  the  king, 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  2/9 

And  Saul  sent  for  David,  and  David  said  to  Saul: 
"Let  no  man's  heart  fail  because  of  him.  Thy  servant 
will  go  and  fight  with  the  Philistine."  And  Saul  said 
to  David,  smiling  to  himself,  I  suppose:  "Thou  art 
not  able  to  go  against  this  Philistine  to  fight  with  him, 
for  thou  art  but  a  youth,  and  he  a  great  man  of  war." 

We  must  not  think  that  David  was  talking  boast- 
fully, because  at  this  time  he  was  a  modest  lad.  But 
you  see,  he  had  self-reliance ;  he  was  used  to  being  alone 
in  the  country  looking  after  his  father's  sheep,  so  that 
he  knc.v  how  to  take  care  of  himself  and  not  be  afraid. 
Besides  rhis,  he  had  learned  how  to  use  one  weapon 
very  skillfully,  and  that  was  the  sling.  Now  the  sling 
might  be  just  as  good  as  any  other  weapon  in  fighting 
with  Goliath ;  it  all  depended  on  having  skill  and  self- 
reliance.  Some  people,  as  you  know,  never  feel  able 
to  do  anything  alone,  but  usually,  when  anything  im- 
portant has  to  be  done,  want  somebody  to  help  them. 

David  was  the  kind  of  a  lad  who  could  take  care 
of  himself,  and  had  no  fear  even  in  doing  something 
alone,  if  he  knew  that  he  had  the  skill.  For  it 
only  meant  not  getting  excited  or  being  afraid  at  some- 
thing because  that  something  was  very  big.  This  man 
Goliath  was  perhaps  not  especially  dangerous,  save 
that  he  was  a  very  big  man,  and  could  frighten  people 
by  his  size  when  they  looked  at  him.  It  might  have 
been  just  as  easy  to  conquer  him  as  to  conquer  any 
other  of  the  Philistines.  The  trouble  was  that  the 
Israelites  became  just  like  children;  they  got  scared 
and  could  not  use  their  minds. 

But  this  boy  David,  having  the  way  of  using  his 
mind  constantly,  alone  when  taking  care  of  the  sheep, 
had  no  fear  of  Goliath  because  he  was  big.  He  knew 
that  the  Philistine  was  no  more  to  be  feared  than  any 
other  of  the  enemy. 

At  the  same  time  he  did  not  mind  it,  even  if  Saul  did 
smile  a  little,  because  he  knew  it  looked  strange — he, 
a  small  lad,  offering  to  do  battle  with  the  Philistine. 
And  this  is  what  David  said  to  Saul:  "Thy  servant 
kept  his  father's  sheep,  and  when  there  came  a  lion  or 
a  bear  anc}  took  a  lamb  out  of  the  flock,  I  caught  him, 


280  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

and  slew  him.  Thy  servant  smote  the  lion  and  the 
bear,  and  this  Philistine  shall  be  as  one  of  them,  seeing 
that  he  hath  dared  to  defy  the  armies  of  the  Lord." 

And  Saul  said  unto  David.,  "Go."  But  first  he  clad 
David  with  his  armor,  putting  a  helmet  of  brass  upon 
his  head,  and  giving  him  a  coat  of  mail.  And  David 
took  his  sword  and  started  to  go.  Then,  however,  he 
said  to  Saul :  "I  cannot  wear  this  armor,"  and  he  put 
it  off. 

By  this  time,  I  suppose,  Saul  had  made  up  his  mind 
to  let  the  lad  have  his  own  way.  There  must  have  been 
something  brave  and  strong  about  David  which  com- 
manded the  respect  of  Saul.  The  boy  went  forth,  there- 
fore, without  any  armor,  clad  just  as  he  had  been  when 
he  came  from  his  father.  But  he  had  his  staff  and 
his  favorite  sling.  So  he  went  down  to  a  brook  and 
chose  him  five  smooth  stones  out  of  the  brook  and  put 
them  in  the  shepherd's  bag  which  he  had,  and  he  drew 
near  to  the  Philistine. 

And  Goliath  the  Philistine  came  on  and  drew  near 
unto  David,  and  the  man  bearing  the  shield  went  be- 
fore him.  And  when  the  Philistine  looked  about  and 
saw  David,  he  laughed  at  him,  saying:  "Am  I  a  dog 
that  thou  comest  to  me  with  staves?"  And  then,  in 
his  disgust,  he  cursed  David,  saying:  "Come  to  me, 
and  I  will  give  thy  flesh  unto  the  fowls  of  the  air  and 
to  the  beasts  of  the  field."  And  David  answered: 
"Thou  comest  to  me  with  a  sword  and  with  a  spear 
and  with  a  javelin ;  but  I  come  unto  thee  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord  and  the  armies  of  Israel;  this  day  will 
the  Lord  deliver  thee  into  my  hand,  and  I  will  smite 
thee,  and  I  will  take  thy  head  from  off  thee,  and  I  will 
give  the  carcasses  of  the  Philistines  this  day  unto  the 
fowls  of  the  air  and  unto  all  the  wild  beasts  of  the 
earth,  that  all  may  know  that  the  Lord  saveth  not 
with  the  sword  and  spear.  He  will  give  you  into  our 
hand." 

You  see,  what  made  David  so  quiet  and  composed 
was  his  perfect  peace  of  conscience.  He  knew  he  was 
in  the  right,  and  that  the  Philistines  were  a  wicked 
people  who  deserved  to  be  defeated  at  the  hands  of 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  28l 

Israel.  Again  and  again  for  thousands  of  years  this 
perfect  peace  of  conscience,  making  people  feel  sure  of 
being  in  the  right,  has  helped  them  to  win  the  victory. 
And  it  was  to  help  David  now. 

And  David  put  his  hand  in  his  bag  and  took  thence 
a  stone  and  slung  it,  and  smote  the  Philistine  in  the 
forehead,  and  the  stone  sank  into  the  forehead  of  the 
Philistine,  and  he  fell  upon  his  face  to  the  earth ;  then 
David  ran  and  stood  over  the  Philistine  and  took  his 
sword,  drew  it  out  of  the  sheath  and  cut  off  the  man's 
head.  And  when  the  Philistines  saw  that  their  leader 
was  dead,  they  fled  in  dismay.  Then  the  armies  of 
Israel  arose,  pursued  the  Philistines  and  won  a  great 
victory  over  them.  The  real  victory,  however,  be- 
longed to  David,  in  the  manly  self-reliance  he  had 
shown,  with  his  peace  of  conscience,  making  him  feel 
sure  that  he  was  right  in  the  cause  for  which  he  was 
fighting. 

To  THE  TEACHER:  We  still  do  not  lose  sight  of 
Samuel.  Comment  upon  his  skill  in  not  simply  judg- 
ing by  outward  appearances.  There  is  a  great  ethical 
lesson  here  which  must  be  fully  expanded.  The  se- 
renity of  mind  on  the  part  of  David  should  be  talked 
over,  as  not  being  weak  assertion  or  boastfulness,  but 
a  simple  trust  in  what  was  right.  The  second  episode 
of  this  story,  with  David  facing  the  big  Philistine,  but 
repeats  the  lesson  of  the  first  episode  in  the  choice  of 
David  on  the  part  of  Samuel.  Make  it  plain  that  if 
David  had  been  boastful  or  conceited  he  would  prob- 
ably have  failed  in  his  attack  on  Goliath. 

MEMORY  VERSE  :  The  Lord  seeth  not  as  man  seeth, 
for  man  looketh  on  the  outward  appearance,  but  the 
Lord  looketh  on  the  heart. 


CHAPTER  XLII. 
Saul's  Jealousy  of  David. 

It  is  not  often  that  a  young  lad  has  the  courage  to 
go  out  and  face  a  giant  such  as  Goliath.  What 
is  more,  it  is  not  often  that  a  lad  has  the  self-reliance 
by  which  he  could  continue  to  the  end,  after  he  had 
started  out.  Many  a  person  might  think  he  could  do 
it,  until  the  time  came;  but  just  at  the  moment  when 
he  had  to  face  the  danger  he  might  be  overcome  by 
fear  and  not  go  ahead  and  fight. 

,But  David  was  another  kind  of  a  person.  As  I  have 
told  you,  he  had  self-reliance,  partly  because  of  the 
kind  of  work  he  had  to  do,  and  partly  because  of  the 
way  he  had  behaved  in  his  earlier  years.  All  his  good 
conduct  in  former  times  now  meant  a  great  deal,  be- 
cause it  was  owing  to  that  conduct  and  the  character 
it  had  given  him,  that  he  was  now  able  to  be  perfectly 
calm  when  he  went  out  to  kill  Goliath. 

Just  think  wrhat  an  excitement  this  must  have  made 
in  the  camp  of  the  Israelites!  They  themselves,  the 
grown  men,  had  all  been  afraid;  so  that  one  man 
among  the  Philistines  had  been  enough  to  scare  a 
whole  army,  including  Saul,  the  king.  And  now  a 
young  lad  had  been  more  brave  than  a  whole  army. 

Saul  himself  wanted  to  find  out  who  this  brave  boy 
could  be,  where  he  came  from  and  who  his  father  was. 
He  had  not  met  many  boys  like  this.  Then,  too,  there 
had  been  something  so  manly  and  yet  so  modest  in  the 
way  David  had  behaved  in  the  presence  of  the  king 
that  Saul  felt  that  he  would  like  to  have  a  boy  like  this 
become  one  of  his  soldiers.  As  we  are  told :  When 
Saul  saw  David  go  forth  against  the  Philistine,  he 
said  unto  Abner,  the  captain  of  the  host:  "Abner, 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  283 

whose  son  is  this  youth  ?"  And  Abner  said :  "As  thy 
soul  liveth,  O  king,  I  cannot  tell."  And  the  king  said : 
"Inquire  whose  son  this  stripling  is."  And  as  David 
returned  from  the  slaughter  of  the  Philistines,  he  was 
brought  before  Saul,  with  the  head  of  the  Philistine 
in  his  hand. 

This  must  have  been  a  strange  sight — the  young 
lad  walking  in  before  the  king,  carrying  a  huge  sword 
almost  as  tall  as  himself  which  he  had  taken  from 
the  giant,  and  with  the  head  of  the  giant  in  his  hand. 
Even  Saul  must  have  been  astonished  and  almost 
afraid  in  the  presence  of  David.  But  the  youth  was 
modest  still,  in  spite  of  what  he  had  done. 

And  Saul  said  to  him:  "Whose  son  art  thou,  thou 
young  man?"  And  David  answered:  "I  am  the  son 
of  thy  servant  Jesse  of  Bethlehem." 

This  was  all  that  was  said  between  him  and  the 
king  at  that  time — not  a  word  more.  Each  one  looked 
at  the  other,  but  kept  his  own  thoughts  to  himself. 
David  must  have  been  pleased  with  the  king  Sau,l,  I 
am  sure,  for  Saul  was  a  tall  and  handsome  man,  almost 
a  giant  himself. 

But  something  else  took  place  just  at  that  moment, 
that  I  want  to  tell  you  about.  It  seems  that  over  at 
one  side  in  the  great  tent  where  this  meeting  hap- 
pened between  Saul  and  David,  there  was  standing  a 
young  man  not  much  older  than  David,  a  brave  young 
fellow,  who  already  was  a  soldier,  because  he  was  the 
son  of  King  Saul.  His  name  was  Jonathan.  And  as 
this  young  man  stood  there  watching  David  and  no- 
ticing what  was  said  between  him  and  his  father,  it 
seemed  as  if  the  heart  of  Jonathan  went  Out  of  it- 
self to  the  boy  David,  right  then  and  there.  He  said 
to  himself :  "That  is  the  kind  of  a  man  I  should  like 
to  have  for  my  friend."  And  what  is  more,  David, 
also  looking  at  Jonathan,  had  the  same  feeling  for  his 
own  part.  The  moment  they  looked  at  each  other  they 
felt  drawn  together.  As  I  have  told  you  in  my  story, 
it  came  to  pass  that  the  soul  of  Jonathan  was  knit  with 
the  soul  of  David,  and  Jonathan  loved  him  as  his  own 
soul,  and  it  was  just  the  same  with  David  toward  Jon- 
athan. 


284  THE   OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE   STORIES. 

Then  Jonathan,  who  was  dressed,  of  course,  in  a 
special  way  as  the  son  of  the  king,  unlike  his  friend, 
and  feeling  that  he  wanted  to  have  David  honored 
like  himself,  at  once  stripped  himself  of  the  robe  that 
was  upon  him  and  gave  it  to  David,  and  his  apparel, 
even  to  his  sword  and  to  his  bow  and  to  his  girdle. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  David,  after  his  great 
deed,  was  not  allowed  to  go  back  to  his  home  in  order 
to  tend  his  father's  sheep.  A  brave  young  man  like 
this  was  needed  in  the  army.  I  suppose  the  father  at 
home  must  have  been  rather  sad  over  it  all,  for  he 
had  loved  the  boy  very  much,  and  surely  did  not  want 
to  part  with  him.  But  he  knew  that  the  time  had 
now  come  when  the  Children  of  Israel  must  take  their 
stand  and  fight  the  Philistines.  He  was  willing,  there- 
fore, that  his  boy  David  should  remain  in  the  army. 
As  we  are  told,  Saul  took  David  that  day  and  would 
not  let  him  go  to  his  father's  house.  And  David  went 
out  whithersoever  Saul  sent  him  and  behaved  himself 
wisely.  And  Saul  set  him  over  the  men  of  war,  and 
it  was  good  in  the  sight  of  all  the  people  and  also  in 
the  sight  of  Saul's  servants. 

One  would  have  fancied  that  all  would  now  go 
well  between  him  and  Saul,  inasmuch  as  David  was 
a  modest  young  man  and  not  given  to  bragging  or 
boasting  in  any  way.  But  the  trouble  was  that  a 
change  came  over  Saul  himself.  He  had  not  been  the 
same  man  since  he  had  disobeyed  the  command  of  the 
Great  Ruler,  as  you  remember.  When  a  man  once 
breaks  a  rule  that  way  and  does  what  he  knew  he 
ought  not  to  have  done,  it  very  often  changes  his 
whole  spirit.  He  begins  to  have  mean  or  bad  feelings 
such  as  he  may  never  have  had  before.  And  it  was 
just  so  with  Saul.  I  think  if  the  king  had  not  dis- 
obeyed at  that  time  after  what  Samuel  had  said  to  him, 
that  no  trouble  would  ever  have  come  between  David 
and  Saul. 

But  as  it  was,  something  unpleasant  happened.  It 
seems  that  when  the  army  returned  with  David  and 
Saul  from  the  slaughter  of  the  Philistines  the  women 
came  out  of  the  cities  to  welcome  King  Saul.  And 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  285 

it  was  the  custom  in  those  days  for  them  to  come  sing- 
ing and  dancing  with  timbrels,  with  joy,  and  with  in- 
struments of  music;  and  this  is  what  they  sang:  "Saul 
hath  slain  his  thousands,  and  David  his  ten  thou- 
sands." Now,  of  course,  this  had  not  really  taken 
place;  David  had  not  slain  ten  thousand  men;  but  it 
was  their  way  of  showing  how  the  people  exulted  in 
that  David  had  killed  a  great  giant,  and  so  had  given 
courage  to  the  army.  It  was  as  though  he  had  slain 
thousands  of  the  Philistines  because  he  had  killed  their 
leader.  You  might  have  fancied  that  Saul  would  have 
been  pleased  over  this,  knowing  that  David  was  only 
a  boy,  and  that  it  was  only  a  feeling  of  joy  on  the  part 
of  the  people  over  the  bravery  of  a  young  Israelite. 
But  the  trouble  was,  Saul  was  not  the  same  man  he 
used  to  be.  Instead  of  being  pleased  over  the  singing 
of  the  women,  he  became  very  angry  and  had  a  great 
feeling  of  jealousy  against  David.  Think  how  con- 
temptible this  was,  that  strong,  mighty  king  being 
jealous  of  a  young  boy!  Wouldn't  you  suppose  that 
he  would  be  ashamed  of  himself  and  want  to  hide  the 
feeling?  But,  as  we  are  told,  Saul  was  very  wroth, 
for  this  saying  displeased  him,  and  he  said:  "They 
have  ascribed  unto  David  ten  thousands,  and  to  me 
they  have  ascribed  but  a  thousand.  And  what  can  he 
have  more,  but  the  kingdom  ?" 

Then  and  there  Saul  wished  he  had  not  kept  David 
as  a  soldier  in  the  army.  He  was  curiously  jealous 
of  him,  and  instead  of  being  kind  to  him  wanted  to 
kill  him.  This  was  pretty  hard  for  poor  David  after 
the  service  he  had  shown  to  Saul  and  the  whole  army. 
Instead  of  being  praised  for  what  he  had  done  he 
saw  an  unpleasant  look  on  the  face  of  Saul  now  when- 
ever they  met.  As  we  are  told,  Saul  eyed  David  from 
that  day  forward. 

The  very  next  day  David  found  out  how  Saul  felt 
toward  him.  It  seems  that  the  young  boy  had  known 
how  to  play  the  harp.  He  must  have  learned  this  as  a 
shepherd.  And  it  so  happened  that  Saul  was  given  to 
having  very  unpleasant  moods,  when  he  could  scarcely 
control  himself.  This  must  have  been  a  good  deal 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

worse  since  that  evil  act  which  he  had  been  guilty  of. 
And  when  Saul  learned  that  David  could  play  the  harp 
he  asked  the  lad  to  come  into  his  tent  and  play  for 
him  in  order  to  quiet  those  moods.  Meanwhile  as 
David  was  playing,  I  am  sorry  to  say  the  bad  feelings 
grew  worse  and  worse  in  the  heart  of  Saul.  He  kept 
thinking  about  what  the  women  had  sung,  and  he  grew 
more  and  more  jealous  of  the  boy.  And  Saul  had  his 
spear  in  his  hand,  and  he  cast  the  spear,  saying:  "I 
will  smite  David/'  But  David  was  able  to  dodge  and 
fled  from  the  tent. 

•After  that  Saul  tried  very  hard  to  control  himself, 
and  for  a  time  he  succeeded.  He  made  David  captain 
in  the  army,  and  David  went  out  and  came  in  before 
the  people,  and  David  behaved  himself  wisely  in  all  his 
ways.  And  when  Saul  saw  that  David  behaved  him- 
self wisely_he  stood  in  awe  of  David.  It  often  hap- 
pens, you  know,  that  people  have  to  admire  a  certain 
person  in  spite  of  themselves,  if  that  person  is  really 
superior  to  them  and  behaves  better  than  they  do. 
They  may  hate  him  and  wish  to  do  him  injury,  but  in 
other  ways  they  cannot  help  looking  up  to  him  and 
admiring  him.  David  was  that  sort  of  a  person.  And 
all  Israel  loved  David  because  of  what  he  had  done, 
and  also  because  of  the  kind  of  a  young  man  he  was. 

I  must  tell  you  a  little  more  at  this  time  of  what 
happened  between  David  and  Saul.  It  seems  that 
David  and  the  daughter  of  the  king  found  that  they 
were  loving  each  other,  and  they  wished  to  become  man 
and  wife.  This  was  told  Saul,  and  you  may  suppose 
that  he  would  be  very  angry  indeed  over  it  all,  inas- 
much as  he  had  such  bad  feelings  toward  David.  And 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  he  was  furiously  angry;  but  in 
another  way  it  pleased  him  very  much,  and  I  will  ex- 
plain why. 

You  see,  Saul  said  to  himself :  "If  David  is  in  love 
with  my  daughter,  then  I  will  tell  him  that  before  he 
can  have  her  for  his  wife  he  must  show  himself  very 
brave  as  a  soldier  and  kill  one  hundred  of  the  Philis- 
tines, pur  enemies."  He  thought  if  this  command 
was  laid  upon  David,  then  David  would  try  to  do  this 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  287 

for  his  love,  in  order  to  show  how  brave  he  was,  and 
then  be  killed  by  the  Philistines.  This  all  strikes  us 
as  very  low  and  mean,  and  our  feeling  for  Saul  has 
to  change  very  much.  According  to  my  story,  Michal, 
Saul's  daughter,  loved  David.  They  told  the  king,  and 
the  thing  pleased  him.  And  Saul  said,  I  will  give  him 
to  her  in  order  that  it  may  be  a  snare  to  him  and  de- 
stroy him."  And  he  said  to  his  servants:  "Talk 
with  David  secretly,  and  say,  'Behold,  the  king  hath 
delight  in  thee  and  all  his  servants  love  thee,  and 
therefore  be  the  king's  son-in-law.  The  king,  how- 
ever, desireth  not  any  dowry,  but  that  you  should  kill 
one  hundred  of  our  enemies,  the  Philistines/  *  And 
when  his  servants  told  David  these  words,  it  pleased 
David  well. 

It  was  no  easy  matter  to  go  out  and  fight  with  the 
Philistines,  for  they  were  a  dangerous  people;  but 
David  was  a  brave  man;  he  thought  not  only  of  his 
love  for  Michal,  the  king's  daughter,  but  of  the  serv- 
ice he  would  do  for  the  Children  of  Israel  in  making 
war  upon  their  enemies.  He  took  his  armor,  there- 
fore, and  went  forth  determined  to  succeed  or  die.  We 
fancy  the  Philistines  must  have  remembered  him,  the 
young:  man  who  had  killed  their  leader,  and  they  must 
have  been  sore  afraid.  But,  be  it  as  it  may,  he  went 
ahead  and  slaughtered  two  hundred  of  them,  twice  as 
many  as  required  by  Saul.  When  this  was  made 
known  to  the  king,  there  was  nothing  left  for  Saul  to 
do  but  to  keep  his  word,  and  he  gave  his  daughter  to 
be  the  wife  of  David. 

To  THE  TEACHER  :  This  could  be  treated  as  a  les- 
son in  jealousy.  The  source  of  it  all  must  be  traced  to 
the  first  sin  of  disobedience.  The  judgment  pro- 
nounced upon  Saul  by  Samuel  still  followed  him,  and 
his  conscience  somehow  justified  it.  Point  out  how 
the  mean  feeling  seemed  to  conquer  all  the  other  good 
feelings  he  once  had  had.  The  story  is  a  sad  and 
painful  one.  Yet  it  must  be  told  because  of  its  im- 
portance in  connection  with  the  whole  narrative.  Em- 
phasis could  be  laid  on  the  low,  underhand  conduct 
which  this  jealousy  led  to,  on  the  part  of  Saul. 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 
David  and  Jonathan. 

I  must  tell  you  more  now  about  the  beautiful  friend- 
ship between  David  and  Jonathan.  All  this  while 
they  had  been  most  fond  of  each  other,  and  it  had 
pleased  Jonathan  very  much  that  his  sister  should  be- 
come the  wife  of  David.  Whenever  it  had  been  pos- 
sible Jonathan  had  been  of  service  to  him  and  stood 
by  him.  Ever  since  those  days,  for  hundreds  and  thou- 
sands of  years,  people  have  talked  about  this  friend- 
ship because  it  was  so  perfect.  Whenever  they 
wanted  to  describe  how  two  men  were  friends  to  each 
other  in  a  devoted  way  they  have  said,  "They  are  like 
David  and  Jonathan."  I  must  therefore  show  you 
how  they  stood  by  each  other. 

It  must  have  been  very  sad  indeed  for  Jonathan  to 
know  how  his  father  felt  toward  David.  You  see,  a 
father  is  a  father,  and  this  son  truly  loved  his  father. 
What  was  more,  Saul  was  a  good  father  to  Jonathan ; 
the  unfortunate  thing  was  the  bad  feeling  in  the  heart 
of  Saul,  the  wicked  jealousy  which  had  started  there 
and  had  grown  into  hate  toward  David. 

What  do  you  suppose  Saul  said,  therefore,  to  his 
son  Jonathan  ?  Why,  he  commanded  him  to  kill  David. 
What  an  awful  blow  this  must  have  been,  to  be  told 
that  he  must  kill  his  own  dearest  friend !  Now  Jona- 
than knew  that  this  would  be  wrong.  He  was  a  grown 
man;  he  had  to  judge  for  himself,  and  he  knew  that 
it  would  not  be  right  for  him  to  slay  David.  As  my 
story  runs,  Saul  spoke  to  Jonathan  his  son  and  to  all 
his  servants  that  they  should  slay  David.  But  Jona- 
than, Saul's  son,  delighted  much  in  David,  and  Jona- 
than told  David,  saying:  "Saul,  my  father  seeketh  to 

288 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  289 

slay  thee ;  now  therefore  I  pray  thee  take  heed  to  thy- 
self in  the  morning  and  abide  in  a  secret  place  and  hide 
and  I  will  commune  with  my  father  of  thee,  and  if  I 
see  aught,  I  will  tell  thee." 

And  Jonathan  spoke  good  of  David  to  Saul  his 
father,  and  said  unto  him:  "Let  not  the  king  sin 
against  his  servant,  David;  for  he  hath  not  sinned 
against  thee,  and  his  works  have  been  to  thee  very 
good;  he  put  his  life  into  his  hands  and  smote  the 
Philistines  and  a  great  victory  was  won  for  all  Israel ; 
thou  sawest  it  and  did  rejoice.  Wherefore  dost  thou 
sin  against  innocent  blood,  to  slay  David  without  a 
cause?" 

I  am  glad  to  say  that  Saul's  heart  was  touched  by 
this  appeal  from  his  brave  son.  He  had  loved 
this  boy,  and  he  felt  heartily  ashamed  of  what  he  had 
been  doing.  His  conscience  had  stirred  within  him. 
Sometimes,  you  know,  a  man's  conscience  will  seem  all 
covered  over,  and  then  again  be  aroused  by  a  voice  like 
this  and  make  a  man  feel  ashamed.  And  so  it  was 
with  Saul.  As  we  are  told,  Saul  hearkened  unto  the 
voice  of  Jonathan  and  he  said,  "David  shall  not  be  put 
to  death." 

Fancy  how  glad  Jonathan  must  have  been  that  he 
could  now  love  his  father  and  David  as  he  had  before, 
and  also  keep  his  father  from  doing  a  great  wrong! 
You  see,  what  Saul  had  planned  would  not  only  have 
been  murder  or  the  most  awful  crime  one  could  com- 
mit, but  besides  this  there  would  have  been  an  awful 
ingratitude  after  what  David  had  done  for  him. 

For  a  time  now  all  went  happily.  David  was  brought 
into  the  presence  of  Saul  and  served  in  his  army. 
Every  now  and  then  he  also  played  on  the  harp  before 
Saul  when  the  bad  moods  came  over  the  king.  But 
one  time,  alas !  the  wicked  jealousy  started  up  again  in 
the  heart  of  the  king  as  he  listened  to  David  playing 
on  the  harp.  It  is  so  hard,  you  see,  for  bad  feelings 
to  keep  down  out  of  sight  after  they  have  once  had  an 
influence  over  a  man  and  a  man  has  once  listened  to 
them.  All  of  a  sudden  the  hate  which  Saul  felt  over- 
came him,  and  Saul  sought  to  smite  David  again  with 


290  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE   STORIES. 

his  spear.  But  David  slipped  away  and  fled  to  his 
home.  Then  Saul  sent  messengers  unto  David's  house 
to  watch  him  so  that  they  could  slay  him  in  the  morn- 
ing. And  Michal,  David's  wife,  told  him,  saying: 
"If  thou  save  not  thy  life  to-night,  to-morrow  thou 
shalt  be  slain." 

So  Michal  let  David  down  through  a  window,  and 
he  went  and  fled  and  escaped. 

The  only  thing  that  David  could  do  now  was  to  go 
once  more  to  his  friend  Jonathan.  He  knew  that  it 
would  be  very  hard  to  bear,  when  his  friend  was 
told  how  the  bad  feeling  had  arisen  once  more  in  the 
heart  of  Saul.  But  Jonathan  had  to  know  about  it. 
And  David  said:  "What  have  I  done,  what  is  my 
iniquity,  what  is  my  sin  before  thy  father,  that  he 
seeketh  my  life?"  And  Jonathan  answered:  "Thou 
shalt  not  die;  behold,  my  father  doeth  nothing  either 
great  or  small  but  that  he  discloseth  it  unto  me,  and 
why  should  my  father  hide  this  thing  from  me  ?  It  is 
not  so." 

This  must  have  come  very  hard  for  poor  David.  He 
had  to  tell  Jonathan  plainly  what  Saul  was  trying  to 
do,  and  to  tell  all  this  about  Jonathan's  own  father. 
If  David  could  have  done  it,  he  would  have  spared 
his  friend  and  gone  away.  But  he  had  to  tell  the 
truth.  Jonathan  would  know  it  sooner  or  later.  And 
David  said  to  Jonathan :  "Thy  father  knoweth  it  well 
that  I  have  found  grace  in  thine  eyes;  and  he  saith, 
let  not  Jonathan  know  this,  lest  he  be  grieved.  But, 
truly  as  thy  soul  liveth,  there  is  but  a  step  between  me 
and  death."  And  Jonathan  said  unto  David :  "What- 
ever thy  soul  desireth  I  will  do  it  for  thee."  And 
David  said  unto  Jonathan:  "Behold,  to-morrow  is 
the  new  moon,  and  I  should  not  fail  to  sit  with  the 
king  at  meat.  But  let  me  go,  that  I  may  hide  myself 
in  the  field  until  the  third  day  at  even.  If  thy  father 
miss  me  at  all,  then  say,  David  earnestly  asked  to  go 
away.  If  Saul  say  thus,  It  is  well,  thy  servant  shall 
have  rest ;  but  if  he  be  wroth,  then  know  that  evil  is  de- 
termined by  him.  Therefore,  deal  kindly  with  thy  serv- 
ant. But  if  there  be  in  me  iniquity,  slay  me  thyself, 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  2Q1 

for  why  shouldest  thou  bring  me  to  thy  father  ?"  And 
Jonathan  said:  "Far  be  it  from  me;  for  if  I  should 
at.  all  know  that  evil  were  determined  by  my  father 
to  come  upon  thee,  then  would  not  I  tell  it  thee?"  And 
Jonathan  said  unto  David :  "Come,  let  us  go  out  into 
the  field."  And  they  went  out,  both  of  them,  into 
the  field. 

And  Jonathan  said  unto  David:  "When  I  have 
sounded  my  father  about  this  time  to-morrow  or  the 
third  day,  behold,  if  there  be  good  toward  David  shall 
I  not  send  then  unto  thee  and  disclose  it  unto  thee? 
To-morrow  is  the  new  moon;  thou  shalt  be  missed, 
for  thy  seat  will  be  empty.  When  thou  hast  stayed 
three  days,  thou  shalt  come  to  the  place  where  thou 
didst  hide  thyself  before,  and  shalt  remain  by  the  stone 
Ezel.  And  I  will  shoot  three  arrows,  as  though  I  shot 
at  a  mark;  and  behold,  I  will  send  the  lad,  saying: 
'Go,  find  the  arrows/  If  I  say  unto  the  lad,  'Behold, 
the  arrows  are  on  this  side  of  thee/  take  them  and 
come,  for  there  is  peace  to  thee  and  no  hurt.  But  if 
I  say  thus  unto  the  boy,  'Behold,  the  arrows  are  be- 
yond thee/  go  thy  way." 

So  David  hid  himself  in  the  field.  And  when  the 
new  moon  was  come,  the  king  sat  him  down  to  eat 
meat,  and  the  king  sat  upon  his  seat  as  at  other  times ; 
and  Jonathan  stood  up,  and  Abner  sat  by  Saul's  side. 
But  David's  place  was  empty.  Nevertheless  Saul 
said  not  anything  that  day,  for  he  thought  something 
had  befallen  him.  And  it  came  to  pass  on  the  morrow 
after  the  new  moon,  the  second  day,  David's  place  was 
empty,  and  Saul  said  unto  Jonathan,  his  son :  "Where- 
fore comes  not  the  son  of  Jesse  ?"  And  Jonathan  an- 
swered Saul :  "David  asked  leave  of  me  to  go  away/' 
Then  Saul's  anger  was  kmdled  against  Jonathan,  and 
he  said  unto  him:  "Do  not  I  know  that  thou  hast 
chosen  the  son  of  Jesse  to  thine  own  shame;  for  as 
long  as  the  son  of  Jesse  liveth  upon  the  ground  thou 
shalt  not  be  established,  nor  thy  kingdom/' 

We  have  found  out  now  what  was  the  real  cause 
of  the  bad  feeling  on  the  part  of  Saul.  He  was  afraid 
that  the  people  would  become  very  fond  of  David  and 
want  to  make  David  king ;  and  he  was  trying  to  arouse 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE   STORIES. 

the  same  bad  feeling  in  the  mind  of  Jonathan,  so  that 
Jonathan  might  become  jealous  and  anxious  lest  he 
should  not  become  king  after  his  father's  death.  In 
this  way  Saul  surely  felt  that  he  would  be  able  to  win 
his  son  Jonathan  over  to  do  as  he  told  him.  And  he 
said  therefore  to  Jonathan :  "Send  now  and  fetch 
David  unto  me,  for  he  shall  surely  die."  And  Jona- 
than answered  Saul  his  father  and  said  unto  him: 
"Wherefore  should  he  be  put  to  death?  What  has 
he  done?"  Then  Saul  in  his  fury  cast  his  spear  at 
Jonathan,  trying  to  kill  him.  You  can  see  now  how 
bad  Saul  had  become.  He  had  lost  all  self-control,  so 
that  in  his  anger  he  would  even  kill  his  own  boy.  It 
must  have  almost  broken  the  heart  of  poor  Jonathan. 
In  sorrow  he  had  to  go  away.  He  left  the  table  with- 
out eating  anything,  for  he  was  grieved  for  David  be- 
cause of  what  his  father  was  trying  to  do.  You  notice 
that  nothing  is  said  about  Jonathan  being  grieved 
about  himself.  All  that  troubled  him  now  was  that 
wicked  feeling  which  he  had  observed  in  his  father's 
heart,  and  the  fact  that  his  friend  David's  life  was  in 
danger. 

Then  it  came  to  pass  the  next  morning  that  Jona- 
than went  out  in  the  field  at  the  time  appointed  with 
David,  with  a  little  lad  with  him;  and  he  said  unto 
the  lad :  "Run,  find  the  arrows  which  I  shoot."  And 
as  the  lad  ran  he  shot  an  arrow  beyond  him,  and  when 
the  lad  was  come  to  the  place  of  the  arrow  Jonathan 
cried  after  him  and  said,  "Is  not  the  arrow  beyond 
thee?"  And  Jonathan's  lad  gathered  up  the  arrows 
and  came  to  his  master,  but  the  lad  knew  not  anything. 
Only  David  for  himself  understood  what  it  meant. 
And  Jonathan  gave  his  weapons  unto  the  lad  and  said 
unto  him :  "Go,  carry  them  to  the  city."  And  as  soon 
as  the  lad  was  gone  David  arose  out  of  his  place  and 
came  to  Jonathan  and  they  embraced  and  wept  one 
with  the  other,  and  Jonathan  said  to  David:  "Go  in 
peace." 

This  was  enough.  Their  hearts  were  too  full  to 
speak.  David  knew  he  must  flee  or  die.  And  Jona- 
than could  not  do  anything  for  his  friend,  but  had  to 
go  back  to  the  city,  sad  at  heart. 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  KINGDOM. 

To  THE  TEACHER  :  This  should  be  narrated  more 
as  a  tale  of  sentiment,  with  the  emphasis  on  the  beauti- 
ful relationship  between  David  and  Jonanthan ;  saying 
little  further  of  Saul's  bad  spirit  or  evil  conduct.  On 
the  other  hand,  point  out  the  noble  attitude  of  Jona- 
than toward  his  father  and  how  he  tried  to  shield  his 
parent  and  defend  him,  aiming  at  the  same  time  to 
protect  David.  Dwell  much  upon  this  beautiful  friend- 
ship between  David  and  Jonathan  so  that  the  inci- 
dents shall  never  be  forgotten  in  the  minds  of  the 
young  people. 


CHAPTER  XLIV. 
How  David  Behaved  Toward  Saul. 

I  think  we  must  almost  have  a  feeling  of  pity  for 
poor  Saul  at  this  time.  When  bad  feelings  get  into 
a  man's  heart  they  spoil  all  the  pleasures  of  life  for 
him ;  they  make  it  so  that  he  cannot  love  others  and 
others  cannot  love  him.  Saul  could  not  help  know- 
ing that  Jonathan  must  have  been  pained  over  what 
had  taken  place  and  could  not  any  longer  have  the 
same  feeling  toward  his  father.  What  is  more,  Saul 
knew  that  the  people  loved  David  and  that  they  might 
lose  their  love  for  himself,  and  he  could  not  trust 
them  any  more.  In  this  way  he  became  suspicious 
of  everybody. 

At  one  time,  for  instance,  when  Saul  was  sitting 
under  a  tamarisk  tree  in  Ramah  with  his  spear  in  his 
hand,  and  all  his  servants  were  standing  about  him, 
he  quite  lost  control  of  himself  and  showed  his  bad 
feelings,  as  he  cried  out:  "Here,  now,  will  the  son 
of  Jesse  give  every  one  of  you  fields  and  vineyards; 
will  he  make  you  captains  of  thousands  and  hundreds ; 
have  all  you  conspired  against  me,  and  there  is  none 
that  discloseth  to  me  when  my  son  maketh  a  league 
with  the  son  of  Jesse;  there  are  none  of  you  that  are 
sorry  for  me?" 

But  all  this  could  do  no  good.  It  only  made  mat- 
ters worse,  because  in  this  way  Saul  made  the  people 
dislike  him,  while  he  had  to  feel  all  the  more  ashamed 
of  himself.. 

He  made  up  his  mind,  however,  once  for  all  now, 
that  he  would  find  young  David  and  kill  him.  Jona- 
than knew  all  about  this,  and  so  he  came  where  David 
was  hiding  and  said  to  him :  "Fear  not,  for  the  hand 
of  Saul  my  father  shall  not  find  thee;  and  thou  shalt 

294 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  KINGDOM. 

be  king  over  Israel."  Was  not  this  brave  and  noble 
on  the  part  of  Jonathan?  According  to  the  custom, 
Jonathan  as  the  son  of  Saul  would  have  become  king 
after  Saul's  death.  But  he  felt  that  it  would  be  bet- 
ter for  Israel  that  David,  his  friend,  should  become 
king  instead  of  himself;  and  so  he  told  this  frankly 
to  his  dear  friend.  And  I  am  sure  they  must  have 
loved  each  other  more  than  ever. 

Yet  all  the  while  Saul  was  trying  to  find  David,  who 
was  hiding  in  the  wood.  And  some  men  came  and 
told  Saul  where  David  was  hidden,  saying  to  him: 
"Now,  therefore,  O  king,  come  down,  according  to 
all  the  desire  of  thy  soul  to  come  down :  and  our  part 
shall  be  to  deliver  David  up  into  the  king's  hand." 
And  Saul  answered:  "Go,  I  pray  you,  make  yet 
more  sure  and  know  and  see  this  place  where  he  hideth 
and  who  have  seen  him  there.  See,  therefore,  and 
take  knowledge  of  all  the  lurking  places  where  he 
hideth  himself  and  come  ye  again  to  me  and  I  will 
go  with  you.  It  shall  come  to  pass  if  he  be  in  the  land 
that  I  will  search  him  out  among  all  the  thousands  of 
Judah." 

But  while  Saul  was  pursuing  David  in  this  way, 
some  messengers  came  to  him,  saying:  "Haste  thee 
and  come,  for  the  Philistines  have  made  a  raid  up  the 
land."  So  Saul  returned  from  pursuing  after  David 
and  went  against  the  Philistines.  And  it  came  to 
pass  when  Saul  had  returned  from  following  the  Phil- 
istines that  it  was  told  him,  saying:  "Behold,  David 
is  in  the  Wilderness  of  Engedi."  Then  Saul  took 
three  thousand  chosen  men  out  of  all  Israel  and  went 
to  seek  David  and  his  men  upon  the  rocks  of  the  wild 
goats;  and  he  came  to  the  sheep  cotes  by  the  way, 
where  was  a  cave,  and  Saul  went  in  to  rest  there. 

Now  David  and  his  men  were  abiding  in  the  inner- 
most part  of  this  very  cave. 

The  chance  had  now  come  for  David  to  take 
vengeance  on  Saul.  All  he  had  to  do  was  to  steal  up 
quietly  and  kill  him  then  and  there.  He  knew  that  if 
he  did  this,  the  Israelites  would  at  once  come  to  his 
side  and  make  him  king .  He  had  been  persecuted  for  a 


296  THE   OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

long  while  now,  and  knew  if  it  went  on  longer  he 
would  probably  have  to  die.  It  seemed  as  if  this  was 
a  rare  chance  for  David  to  save  himself  and  put  Saul 
to  death. 

At  once,  therefore,  his  men  said  to  him :  "Now  is  the 
time;  behold  the  day  is  at  hand  of  which  it  has  been 
told  thee,  when  thine  enemies  shall  fall  into  thy  hands 
and  thou  shouldst  do  unto  them  as  it  seemed  good 
unto  thee." 

What  do  you  suppose  David  did  at  that  time  ?  Well, 
I  will  tell  you,  if  you  do  not  know  already.  He  saw 
that  his  men  wanted  at  once  to  seize  the  king  and  kill 
him.  But  he  replied:  "No.  This  man  has  been 
made  king  by  the  Lord.  Should  I  do  this  thing  to 
put  forth  mine  hand  against  him?"  So  David  checked 
his  men  with  these  words  and  suffered  them  not  to 
rise  against  Saul.  But  I  will  tell  you  what  he  did. 
He  went  and  cut  off  a  part  of  the  robe  that  Saul  wore. 
You  will  soon  learn  why  this  was  done  by  David. 

Before  long,  Saul  awoke  and  went  outside  the  cave, 
and  lo  and  behold  as  he  was  standing  there,  who 
should  walk  out  behind  him  and  appear  before  his 
face  but  David !  Think  how  this  must  have  startled 
Saul.  Then  and  there  I  suppose  he  might  have  struck 
David  down.  But  as  he  looked  at  him,  David  only 
said:  "My  lord  the  king."  And  David  bowed  with 
his  face  to  the  earth.  While  Saul  was  standing  there 
amazed  at  all  this,  David  began  to  speak  once  more, 
saying :  "Wherefore  hearkenest  thou  to  men's  words, 
saying  David  seeketh  thy  hurt;  behold  this  day  thine 
eyes  have  seen  thy  life  delivered  into  mine  hands  in 
the  cave;  and  some  bade  me  kill  thee.  But  I  spared 
thee,  and  I  said  I  will  not  put  forth  my  hand  against 
my  lord  the  king,  for  he  was  made  king  by  the  Lord. 
Moreover,  my  father,  see  the  part  of  thy  robe  in  my 
hand ;  for  in  that  I  cut  off  a  part  of  thy  robe  and  killed 
thee  not;  see  that  there  is  neither  evil  nor  transgres- 
sion in  my  hand,  and  I  have  not  sinned  against  thee, 
though  thou  layest  wait  for  me  to  seize  me.  The  Lord 
judge  between  thee  and  me;  but  mine  hand  shall  not 
be  upon  thee." 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  KINGDOM. 

This  was  a  brave  way  of  acting,  and  alas!  not  the 
usual  way  in  those  days.  It  was  such  noble  behavior 
on  the  part  of  David  to  return  good  for  evil !  I  always 
like  to  think  of  this  story  and  remember  how  David 
might  have  taken  vengeance  on  his  enemy,  and  yet 
•  refused  to  do  so,  seeking  to  show  him  that  no  evil  was 
meant,  on  his  own  part,  trying  in  this  way 
to  restore  friendship  between  himself  and  the  king. 
There  he  stood  with  the  piece  of  Saul's  robe  in  his 
hand,  and  Saul  saw  at  once  how  his  life  had  been 
spared  by  David. 

How  do  you  suppose  Saul  acted  at  this  moment? 
You  remember,  when  Saul  had  begun  as  a  young 
man,  he  had  been  good  and  true,  with  a  noble  heart 
and  the  best  of  feelings.  He  had  changed  be- 
cause of  his  disobedience,  and  begun  to  have 
bad  feelings  such  as  he  had  not  had  in  those 
days  when  he  was  a  boy.  Now  the  g*ood  feel- 
ings of  his  heart  came  back  to  him.  And  it 
came  to  pass  when  David  had  made  an  end  of  speak- 
ing those  words,  Saul  said:  "Is  this  thy  voice,  my 
son  David?"  And  Saul  lifted  up  his  voice  and  wept, 
and  he  said  to  David:  "Thou  art  more  righteous 
than  I ;  for  thou  hast  rendered  unto  me  good,  whereas 
I  have  rendered  unto  thee  evil;  thou  hast  declared 
this  day  how  thou  hast  dealt  well  with  me  in  that 
thou  killest  me  not.  If  a  man  finds  his  enemy,  will 
he  let  his  enemy  go  well  away?  But  thou  hast  done 
this  unto  me  this  day,  and  now  behold  thou  shalt  surely 
be  king  over  Israel.'* 

It  was  the  same,  you  see,  as  years  before,  when  Saul 
stood  first  in  the  presence  of  David  after  the  boy  had 
killed  Goliath.  He  had  then  felt  somehow  as  if  he 
was  in  the  presence  of  a  superior  person,  whom  he 
had  to  admire  and  look  up  to  in  spite  of  himself,  so 
that  now  at  last  he  had  to  own  outright  that  David 
was  worthy  to  become  king  over  Israel. 

To  THE  TEACHER  :  This  is  one  of  the  most  inspir- 
ing stories  in  the  Bible,  as  illustrating  the  spirit  of  re- 
turning good  for  evil.  It  will  not  do  to  say  that  such 


298  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

conduct  would  always  have  the  same  results.  But  it 
may  be  well  to  point  out  how  it  will  sometimes  work 
wonders  in  healing  bad  feelings  or  old-timed  enmity 
between  individuals.  It  would  be  wise  to  remind  the 
children  how  Saul  had  been  a  wise,  true  man  at  one 
time;  showing  that  good  feelings  may  be  revived  in 
people,  as  in  this  case,  if  the  right  method  has  been 
employed.  The  language  between  David  and  Saul 
should  be  reviewed  carefully  and  repeated  over  in  the 
class. 

MEMORY  VERSE:  Thou  art  more  righteous  than 
I ;  for  thou  hast  rendered  unto  me  good,  whereas  I 
have  rendered  unto  thee  evil. 


CHAPTER  XLV. 
The  Death  of  King  Saul. 

You  may  begin  to  be  a  little  tired  of  all  these  sad 
happenings  between  David  and  Saul.  It  always  pains 
us  very  much  if,  when  a  man  has  repented  of  his 
wrong-doings,  changed  in  his  feelings  and  made  up 
his  mind  to  do  them  no  more — if  then  he  goes  back 
to  his  bad  ways  and  bad  feelings  just  the  same.  One 
has  to  be  fighting  all  the  while  in  order  to  resist 
temptation.  But  Saul  did  not  know  how  to  do  this. 
He  could  fight  like  a  brave  soldier  in  the  field  against 
the  Philistines ;  but  he  did  not  know  how  to  fight  the 
wicked  feelings  in  his  heart. 

There  is  an  old  proverb,  you  know,  which  tells  us 
that  the  man  who  conquers  his  anger  is  stronger 
than  the  man  who  conquers  a  city.  It  may  be  that 
this  proverb  arose  from  what  people  knew  about 
Saul.  He  had  conquered  many  cities,  but  he  could 
not  conquer  his  own  anger.  Think  what  he  might 
have  done  if  he  had  been  a  true  man!  He  was  the 
first  king  over  Israel  and  might  have  made  that  peo- 
ple grand  and  glorious,  helping  them  to  overthrow 
the  Philistines  and  to  get  back  the  land  of  Canaan 
into  their  possession.  It  is  so  hard  for  a  man  to 
be  brave  on  the  inside  as  well  as  brave  on  the  outside. 
Many  a  person  would  rather  go  out  and  be  a  soldier 
and  risk  his  life  on  the  field  of  battle,  than  to  carry  on 
a  fight  against  his  own  bad  feelings. 

But  sad  to  say,  Saul  lost  the  victory  over  himself. 
He  was  conquered  by  his  own  jealousy  and  his  anger, 
although  David  had  spared  his  life  and  made  him 
feel  ashamed  of  himself;  and  after  a  while  the  old 
hate  came  back  along  with  the  wish  to  kill  David. 

299 


3OO  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

What  is  worse,  the  grand  old  man  Samuel,  who 
had  anointed  Saul  and  made  him  king,  had  died  not 
long  before.  It  may  be  that  he  might  have  done 
something  to  change  the  heart  of  Saul;  for  he  had 
been  one  of  the  great  leaders  of  the  Israelites,  a  noble 
teacher  in  Israel.  But  Samuel  had  gone  to  his  rest 
and  Saul  was  all  alone.  His  son  Jonathan  still  stayed 
with  him;  but  he  knew  there  could  be  no  true,  deep 
love  for  him  on  the  part  of  Jonathan. 

In  the  meantime  David  was  showing  himself  a  brave 
soldier  in  the  land  of  Canaan.  People  were  hear- 
ing about  what  a  leader  he  was,  and  how  boldly  he 
would  fight  at  the  head  of  an  army.  At  one  time, 
for  instance,  when  he  was  away  from  home,  the  city 
where  he  was  staying  was  seized  by  the  Amalekites 
and  burned  with  fire.  And  when  David  and  his  men 
came  to  the  city,  behold  it  was  burned  with  fire,  and 
their  wives  and  their  sons  and  their  daughters  had 
been  taken  captives.  Then  David  and  the  people  that 
were  with  him,  for  a  time  could  not  control  themselves  ; 
they  lifted  up  their  voices  and  wept.  But  brave  men 
do  not  shed  tears  unless  it  be  over  some  awful  calam- 
ity; and  even  then  they  do  not  shed  tears  for  long. 
David,  like  a  true  soldier,  at  once  set  about  to  go  and 
attack  the  Amalekites. 

So  David  went,  having  the  six  hundred  men  that 
were  with  him,  and  came  to  the  brook  Besor.  But 
they  had  been  without  food  and  were  very  faint. 
David  pursued,  however,  he  and  four  hundred  of 
them.  And  they  found  an  Egyptian  in  the  field  and 
brought  him  to  David  and  gave  him  bread  that  he 
might  eat;  and  they  gave  him  water  that  he  might 
drink,  and  they  gave  him  a  piece  of  a  cake  of  figs 
and  two  clusters  of  raisins;  and  when  he  had  eaten 
his  spirit  came  again  to  him,  for  he  had  eaten  no  bread 
and  drunk  no  water  three  days  and  three  nights. 
David  and  his  men  were  almost  in  the  same  plight. 
But  they  said  to  him:  "To  whom  belongest  thou, 
from  whence  art  thou?"  And  he  said,  "I  am  a  serv- 
ant to  an  Amalekite;  and  my  master  left  me  because 
three  days  ago  I  fell  sick."  And  David  said  unto  him, 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  3o1 

"Wilt  thou  bring  me  down  to  the  troop  of  the  Amal- 
ekites?"  And  the  man  said,  "Promise  me  that  thou 
wilt  neither  kill  me  nor  deliver  me  into  the  hands  of 
my  master  and  I  will  bring  thee  down  to  the  hands  of 
the  Amalekites." 

And  when  the  man  brought  David  down,  behold 
there  were  the  Amalekites  spread  all  over  the  ground, 
eating,  drinking  and  feasting,  because  of  all  the  great 
spoil  which  they  had  taken.  And  David  smote  them 
from  the  twilight  even  unto  the  evening  of  the  next 
day.  And  David  recovered  all  that  the  Amalekites 
had  taken.  And  there  was  nothing  lacking  to  them, 
neither  small  nor  great,  neither  sons  nor  daughters, 
nor  anything  which  had  been  taken  from  the  Israelites. 

And  they  came  back,  David  and  the  four  hundred,  to 
the  other  two  hundred  men  who  had  been  too  weak  to 
go  with  them.  And  those  who  had  done  the  fighting 
said :  "Because  they  went  not  with  us,  we  will  not  give 
them  aught  of  the  spoil  that  we  have  recovered,  save 
to  every  man  his  wife  and  children."  Then  said 
David  to  them:  "Ye  shall  not  do  so,  my  brethren." 
He  felt  that  the  men  who  had  been  obliged  to  stay 
behind  had  been  just  as  true  soldiers  as  the  others; 
but  they  had  been  ill  for  want  of  food.  And  so  David 
answered:  "As  his  share  is,  that  goeth  down  to  the 
battle,  so  shall  his  share  be  that  had  to  wait  by  the 
brook :  They  shall  all  share  alike." 

But  we  have  come  now  to  the  point  where  I  must 
tell  you  what  happened  to  Saul.  Although  he  kept 
wishing  to  see  David  and  put  him  to  death,  he  had 
been  forced  to  go  on  fighting  with  the  Philistines.  And 
in  a  great  battle  with  this  old  enemy,  the  Israelites 
were  defeated.  What  is  saddest  of  all"  to  us,  Jonathan 
was  killed.  As  we  are  told:  The  battle  went  sore 
against  Saul  and  the  archers  overtook  him.  Then 
said  Saul  to  his  armor  bearer :  "Draw  thy  sword  and 
thrust  me  through  therewith,  lest  these  Philistines 
come  and  thrust  me  through  and  make  a  mock  of 
me."  But  his  armor  bearer  would  not,  for  he  was 
sore  afraid.  Therefore  Saul  took  his  sword  and  fell 
upon  it,  and  when  his  armor  bearer  saw  that  Saul  was 


3O2  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

dead,  he  likewise  fell  upon  his  sword  and  died  with 
him.  So  Saul  died  and  his  three  sons  and  his  armor 
bearer,  and  all  his  men  that  same  day  together.  And 
this  was  the  end  of  Saul. 

To  THE  TEACHER  :  There  should  be  a  review  of  the 
whole  life  of  Saul  at  this  point,  while  a  picture  of  him 
in  his  earlier  days  may  be  shown  to  the  children. 
Touch  upon  the  wise  judgment  of  David  in  sharing  the 
spoils  even  with  those  who  had  not  fought  in  the  battle. 

MEMORY  VERSE:  As  his  share  is  that  cometh 
down  to  the  battle,  so  shall  his  share  be  that  had  to 
wait  by  the  brook;  they  shall  all  share  alike. 


CHAPTER  XLVI. 
David  Becomes  the  King. 

We  have  told  you  a  great  deal  about  Saul.  And  yet 
'he  had  not  reigned  a  very  long  while,  only  a  few  years 
altogether.  But  it  had  been  a  sad  and  troublesome 
reign,  for  he  had  begun  it  in  the  wrong  way,  as  you 
remember;  it  seemed  as  if  a  cloud  hung  over  him  all 
the  while.  It  is  a  relief  to  us  now  that  we  do  not 
have  to  hear  any  more  about  him,  and  I  presume  it 
was  a  relief  to  the  Children  of  Israel  when  his  end 
came. 

At  first  David  knew  nothing  of  what  had  happened 
to  Saul  and  Jonathan.  He  had  been  busy  fighting 
with  the  Amalekites.  But  it  came  to  pass  that  behold 
a  man  came  out  of  the  camp  from  Saul,  with  his 
clothes  rent  and  earth  upon  his  head.  And  so  it  was, 
when  he  came  to  David  that  he  fell  upon  the  earth  and 
did  obeisance.  And  David  said  unto  him:  "From 
whence  comest  thou?"  And  he  said  unto  David: 
"Out  of  the  camp  of  Israel  have  I  escaped."  And 
David  said :  "How  went  the  matter,  I  pray  thee  tell 
me."  And  the  man  answered:  "The  people  are  fled 
from  the  battle  and  many  of  them  are  fallen  and  dead, 
and  Saul  and  Jonathan  are  dead  also." 

Then  David  took  hold  of  his  clothes  and  rent  them, 
and  likewise  all  the  men  with  him ;  and  they  mourned 
and  wept  and  fasted  until  evening  because  of  Saul 
and  Jonathan  his  son,  and  for  the  people  of  Israel 
fallen  by  the  sword. 

This  must  have  been  an  awful  blow  to  David.  I 
think  he  would  have  been  willing  to  have  given  up  his 
life  for  the  sake  of  Jonathan.  They  had  loved  each 
other  so  well!  It  had  never  crossed  David's  mind, 


304  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE   STORIES. 

we  are  quite  sure,  that  Jonathan  would  be  killed. 
And  now  poor  David  was  almost  heart-broken,  al- 
though he  knew  that  his  enemy  Saul  was  dead  and  that 
he  would  now  become  king  over  Israel. 

As  we  are  told :  David  lamented  over  Saul  and  over 
Jonathan  his  son,  and  he  had  the  Israelites  learn  a 
song  in  memory  of  Jonathan  called  the  "Song  of  the 
Bow."  These  are  some  of  the  words  of  the  song: 
"Thy  glory,  O  Israel,  is  slain  upon  thy  high  places! 
How  are  the  mighty  fallen !  Ye  mountains  of  Gilboa, 
let  there  be  no  rain  or  dew  upon  you,  for  there  the 
shield  of  the  mighty  was  cast  aside!  How  are  the 
mighty  fallen  in  the  midst  of  the  battle!  Jonathan  is 
slain  upon  the  high  places !  I  am  distressed  for  thee, 
my  brother  Jonathan.  Very  pleasant  hast  thou  been 
unto  me.  Thy  love  to  me  was  wonderful.  How  are 
the  mighty  fallen  and  the  weapons  of  war  perished." 

Some  time  after  this,  the  elders  of  Israel  assembled 
in  the  city  of  Hebron  in  order  to  crown  David  the 
king;  and  they  spoke  saying:  "Behold  we  are  of  thy 
bone  and  thy  flesh.  In  times  past  when  Saul  was  king 
over  us,  it  was  thou  that  leadest  us  put  and  broughtest 
us  in,  to  Israel.  The  Lord  has  said  to  thee:  'Thou 
shalt  feed  my  people  Israel  and  thou  shalt  be  Prince 
over  Israel/  " 

Then  a  covenant  was  made  between  David  and  the 
elders,  and  they  anointed  David  king  over  Israel.  He 
was  thirty  years  old  when  he  began  to  reign,  and  he 
reigned  forty  years.  This  is  usually  looked  upon  as 
the  important  time  in  the  whole  history  of  the  Chil- 
dren of  Israel.  It  was  at  this  period  that  they  be- 
came a  great  kingdom ;  so  that  ever  afterward  when- 
ever the  Children  of  Israel  talked  of  the  glories  of  the 
past  and  wished  to  name  the  time  when  their  people 
had  been  the  most  prosperous,  they  used  to  look  back 
and  talk  about  the  days  when  their  people  were  ruled 
over  by  King  David. 

I  will  tell  you  some  other  things  which  were  done 
by  David  during  his  reign.  In  the  first  place  let  me 
give  you  a  short  account  of  what  he  did  because  of  his 
memory  for  his  dear  Jonathan.  I  like  this  very  much 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  305 

in  David.  It  shows  that  when  he  became  a  man  of 
great  power  he  did  not  forget  those  sweet  and  tender 
memories  of  his  younger  days. 

As  we  are  told :  David  said,  "Is  there  yet  anybody 
left  to  the  house  of  Saul,  that  I  may  show  him  kind- 
ness for  Jonathan's  sake?"  And  there  was  one  of 
the  house  of  Saul,  a  servant  whose  name  was  Ziba, 
and  they  called  him  unto  David,  and  the  king  said 
unto  him,  "Art  thou  Ziba  ?"  And  the  man  said :  "Thy 
servant  is  he."  And  David  said:  "Is  there  not  yet 
any  of  the  house  of  Saul  that  I  may  show  kindness 
unto  him  ?"  And  Ziba  said  unto  the  king :  "Jonathan 
has  yet  a  son  who  is  lame  on  his  feet." 

It  seems  that  at  the  time  when  Saul  and  Jonathan 
were  killed,  there  had  been  a  little  boy  only  five  years 
old,  a  son  of  Jonathan,  in  charge  of  a  nurse;  and 
when  the  nurse  heard  how  the  boy's  father  and  grand- 
father had  been  killed,  she  was  afraid  that  the  little 
boy  would  be  killed  also,  and  she  took  the  child  and 
fled,  and  in  her  haste  he  slipped  out  of  her  arms  and 
fell,  and  so  was  hurt  and  made  lame  for  all  the  rest 
of  his  life. 

And  this  is  the  one  whom  the  man  had  in  mind 
when  he  answered  David :  "Jonathan  hath  yet  a  son 
who  is  lame  on  his  feet."  And  the  king  said  unto  the 
man,  "Where  is  he?"  And  Ziba  said  unto  the  king: 
"Behold,  he  is  in  the  house  of  Machir  and  his  name  is 
Mephibosheth." 

And  Mephibosheth  the  son  of  Jonathan  came  unto 
David  and  bowed  before  him.  And  David  said :  "Me- 
phibosheth." And  he  answered  and  said,  "Behold 
thy  servant."  And  David  said:  "Fear  not,  for  I 
shall  show  thee  kindness  for  Jonathan  thy  father's 
sake,  and  restore  thee  all  the  land  belonging  to  thy 
grandfather  Saul,  and  thou  shalt  eat  bread  at  my  table 
continually."  Then  the  king  called  Ziba  and  said 
unto  him:  "All  that  belonged  to  Saul  have  I  given 
unto  thy  master's  son  and  thou  shalt  till  the  land  for 
him,  thou  and  thy  sons  and  thy  servants;  and  thou 
shalt  bring  in  the  fruits  that  thy  master's  son  may 
have  bread  to  eat;  but  Mephistosheth  shall  eat  bread 
always  at  my  table." 


306  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

Now  as  to  what  David  did  for  Israel.  I  am  quite 
sure  that  you  have  heard  of  a  great  city  far  away 
over  in  Palestine,  a  city  which  has  been  more  talked 
about  than  any  other  city  in  the  world.  We  are  speaking 
of  Jerusalem.  In  the  early  days  of  David  this  had 
been  a  small  city  belonging  to  one  of  the  tribes  of 
Canaan.  But  that  tribe  had  made  war  on  David,  and 
so  David  conquered  them  and  captured  their  city.  Then 
he  went  to  live  there  and  made  it  the  capital  of  his 
kingdom.  In  this  way  it  became  the  great  city  of  Pal- 
estine. He  made  a  much  larger  city  of  it,  and,  I  sup- 
pose, built  another  great  wall  around  it.  It  was  sur- 
rounded, as  you  know,  by  hills  and  mountains,  and 
was  entered  by  gates  from  the  valleys  below.  David 
had  armies  of  soldiers  with  him  to  defend  the  city  and 
the  Children  of  Israel  came  to  look  upon  it  as  the 
great  city  of  the  land. 

Then  in  the  next  place  David  took  pains  to  show  his 
honor  for  the  great  Ruler  of  the  World.  You  re- 
member about  the  Ark  which  had  been  made  at  the 
time  when  Moses  and  Aaron  were  with  the  Children  of 
Israel  in  the  Wilderness.  This  Ark,  it  seems,  had 
been  kept  in  a  tent;  and  so  David  went  forth  with  a 
great  number  of  people,  and  they  brought  this  Ark  to 
Jerusalem  in  order  to  do  honor  to  the  Lord  over  All. 

Unfortunately,  David  had  to  be  all  the  while  going 
to  war.  He  had  made  up  his  mind  now  once  for  all 
to  conquer  the  whole  of  Canaan,  and  put  an  end  to 
the  troubles  between  the  Israelites  and  the  Canaan- 
ites.  These  wars  had  been  going  on  ever  since  the 
days  of  Joshua.  But  David  had  founded  his  kingdom 
and  so  he  set  to  work  to  conquer  these  tribes  one  after 
another. 

There  was  one  thing,  however,  that  he  wanted  very 
much  to  do.  He  wished  to  build  a  temple  to  the  Lord. 
He  had  made  a  great  palace  for  himself,  where  he 
and  his  family  lived  in  Jerusalem ;  and  he  did  not  feel 
it  right  that  he  should  live  in  such  a  palace  when 
there  was  no  temple  for  the  Ruler  over  All.  And  he 
said  to  Nathan,  the  great  teacher  of  those  days,  who 
was  called  a  prophet:  "See  now,  I  dwell  in  a  house 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  307 

of  cedar,  but  the  Ark  of  the  Lord  dwelleth  within  cur- 
tains." And  Nathan  was  going  to  tell  David  to  pro- 
ceed and  build  a  temple ;  but  the  Lord  said  to  Nathan, 
as  we  are  told:  "Now  therefore  thus  shalt  thou  say 
unto  my  servant  David,  'Thus  saith  the  Lord :  I  took 
thee  from  the  pasture  and  from  following  the  sheep 
that  thou  shouldst  be  prince  over  my  people,  Israel, 
and  I  have  been  with  thee  whithersoever  thou  wentest 
and  have  cut  off  all  thy  enemies  from  before  thee; 
and  I  will  make  thee  a  great  name  like  unto  the  name 
of  the  great  ones  that  are  in  the  earth.  When  thy 
days  be  fulfilled  and  thou  shallst  sleep  with  thy  fathers, 
I  will  set  up  thy  family  after  thee  and  one  of  them 
shall  build  a  house  to  my  name.  I  will  be  his  father 
and  he  shall  be  my  son.  If  he  commit  iniquity  I  will 
chasten  him  with  the  rod  of  men  and  with  the  stripes 
of  the  children  of  men ;  but  my  mercy  shall  not  depart 
from  him/  " 

You  will  wonder  why  it  was  that  David  was  not 
allowed  to  build  this  temple,  and  I  will  tell  you.  It 
was  because  David  had  been,  as  we  are  told,  a  "man  of 
blood."  He  had  been  a  great  soldlfer  and  been  obliged 
to  kill  many  people.  This  had  to  be  done,  as  there 
was  no  other  way  at  that  time  by  which  the  wicked 
Canaanite  could  be  conquered  and  punished.  But  it 
was  felt  that  the  Temple  to  the  Lord  over  All  should 
be  built  by  a  man  who  had  not  been  compelled  to  take 
the  lives  of  his  fellow  men;  and  so  this  wish  on  the 
part  of  David  could  not  be  granted.  He  was  able  to 
advance  and  make  a  great  people  of  the  Children  of 
Israel,  and  also  a  great  name  for  himself,  but  he  was 
not  allowed  to  build  a  temple  to  the  Lord. 

To  THE  TEACHER:  As  there  are  a  number  of  inci- 
dents in  this  lesson,  each  one  should  be  taken  up  sep- 
arately. There  should  be  some  talk  about  Jerusalem 
and  of  its  importance,  perhaps  with  pictures  of  the 
city  and  of  its  surroundings.  The  reason  why  David 
was  refused  the  privilege  of  building  the  Temple 
should  be  discussed  and  remembered.  The  two  Mourn- 
ing Songs  might  be  committed  to  memory  and  recited 
in  the  class. 


CHAPTER  XLVII. 
How  David  Did  Wrong. 

You  must  now  learn  something  about  David  which 
we  should  like  to  leave  out,  if  it  were  right  for  us  to  do 
so.  I  am  quite  sure  you  will  think  there  is  a  great 
deal  of  wickedness  in  these  stories  from  the  Bible; 
but  it  is  a  sad  fact  that  you  must  know  of  once  for  all, 
that  there  has  been  much  wickedness  in  the  world ;  and 
the  worst  of  it  is,  even  great  men  have  a  way  some- 
times of  yielding  to  temptation.  This  may  happen 
again  and  again  when  a  man  comes  into  great  power 
and  is  more  free  to  do  quite  as  he  pleases.  There  is 
nothing  in  the  world  more  dangerous  than  for  a  man 
for  a  long  while  to  be  able  to  do  quite  as  he  pleases. 
It  makes  him  forget  to  obey  rules  or  keep  commands. 
And  this  is  just  what  happened  to  David  as  it  did  to 
Saul.  At  one  time  he  was  guilty  of  an  awful  crime. 
He  must  have  been  sorry  for  it  all  the  rest  of  his 
days ;  but  I  shall  have  to  tell  you  about  it. 

It  goes  with  that  custom  of  early  times  which  we 
have  outgrown  now,  by  which  a  man  could  have  more 
than  one  wife,  especially  if  he  were  a  king.  And  it 
so  happened  that  David  was  walking  one  evening  upon 
the  roof  of  his  house,  and  he  looked  in  a  certain  way 
and  saw  a  woman  in  another  dwelling.  And  the 
woman  was  very  beautiful  to  look  upon ;  and  all  of  a 
sudden  the  thought  came  to  David  that  he  would  like 
to^have  her  for  his  wife.  And  David  sent  and  in- 
quired about  the  woman,  and  some  one  said  to  him, 
"This  is  Bathsheba,  the  wife  of  Uriah,  the  Hittite." 

Now  when  this  was  told  to  David  he  ought  at  once 
to  have  put  the  whole  subject  out  of  his  mind;  he 

308 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  3OQ 

should  not  have  allowed  himself  to  think  about  it  for 
a  single  minute.  It  was  an  awful  crime  for  him  to 
take  another  man's  wife. 

In  his  younger  days  when  David  was  a  brave  mod- 
est shepherd  lad,  or  when  he  was  fleeing  from  the  per- 
secution of  Saul  and  protected  by  the  kindness  and 
love  of  Jonathan,  I  am  sure  that  if  this  temptation 
had  come  to  him  he  would  have  put  it  away  at  once 
and  never  have  thought  of  it  again.  But  he  had  been 
king  now  for  some  time  and  able  to  command  people 
to  do  his  wishes  in  all  sorts  of  ways,  so  that  he  was  no 
longer  in  the  habit  of  giving  up.  He  made  up  his  mind, 
therefore,  that  he  would  have  Bathsheba  for  his  wife 
in  spite  of  Uriah,  the  Hittite. 

And  the  way  he  went  about  it  is  something  awful 
to  think  of.  When  a  man  makes  up  his  mind  to  do 
something  terribly  wicked  and  knows  how  wicked  it 
is,  he  is  liable  to  forget  all  scruples  and  lose  every 
sense  of  shame.  But  I  must  let  you  know  once  for 
all  how  guilty  David  was.  According  to  my  story: 
It  came  to  pass  that  David  wrote  a  letter  to  Joab,  the 
leader  of  his  army,  who  was  out  at  war  with  one  of 
the  tribes  in  Canaan,  and  he  wrote  in  the  letter  saying : 
"Set  Uriah  in  the  forefront  of  the  hottest  battle  and 
retire  from  him  that  he  may  be  smitten  and  die."  And 
it  came  to  pass  that  Joab  assigned  Uriah  to  the  place 
where  he  knew  the  valiant  men  were,  and  there  fell 
some  of  the  people  even  of  the  servants  of  David,  and 
Uriah  the  Hittite  died  also. 

Then  Joab  sent  and  told  David  all  the  things  con- 
cerning the  war  and  how  Uriah  the  Hittite  was  dead. 
And  the  messenger  came  and  said  unto  David :  "The 
men  prevailed  against  us  and  came  out  against  us  into 
the  field  and  we  were  upon  them  even  unto  the  enter- 
ing of  the  gate;  and  the  shooters  shot  thy  servants 
from  out  the  wall  and  some  of  the  king's  servants  be 
dead  and  thy  servant  Uriah  the  Hittite  is  dead  also." 

One  would  have  supposed  that  this  would  have 
frightened  David  when  he  was  told  what  an  awful 
thing  had  been  done.  But  he  had  gone  so  far  now  that 
he  seemed  to  have  lost  his  conscience.  Then  David 


3IO  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

said  unto  the  messenger :  "Thus  shalt  thou  say  unto 
Joab,  'Let  not  this  thing  displease  thee,  for  the  sword 
debaseth  one  as  well  as  another/  make  thy  battle  more 
strong  between  the  city  and  overthrow  it." 

I  should  not  like  to  have  looked  into  David's  heart 
at  this  time.  It  must  have  been  just  like  a  stone,  no 
feeling  there  at  all.  He  did  not  have  heart  enough 
even  to  be  ashamed.  He  had  taken  Bathsheba  to  be 
his  wife  after  having  caused  the  death  of  her  husband 
Uriah. 

Yet  after  what  I  have  told  you  about  David,  you 
will  feel  pretty  sure  that  his  conscience  would  come 
back  to  him  by  and  by.  This  was  the  same  David  who 
had  kept  his  father's  sheep,  and  who  in  his  great  self- 
reliance  had  gone  out  and  killed  Goliath.  It  was  the 
same  David  whom  Jonathan  had  loved  and  who  had 
loved  Jonathan.  It  was  the  same  David  who  had  re- 
turned good  for  evil  to  Saul,  and  spared  Saul's  life 
when  he  might  have  killed  him.  It  was  only  a  question 
of  time  when  that  heart  of  stone  would  melt,  and  he 
would  fall  to  the  ground  and  wish  so  much  he  had 
never  been  guilty  of  that  awful  crime.  I  will  tell  you 
now,  how  his  conscience  was  awakened  about  it  all. 

It  was  known  to  Nathan  the  teacher  or  prophet  in 
Jerusalem,  what  David  had  done.  And  Nathan  came 
one  day  to  David  and  told  him  a  story.  And  it  was 
this :  "There  were  two  men  in  one  city ;  the  one  rich 
and  the  other  poor.  The  rich  man  had  many  flocks 
and  herds,  but  the  poor  man  had  nothing  save  one 
little  ewe  lamb,  which  he  had  bought  and  nourished; 
and  it  grew  up  together  with  him  and  his  children; 
it  did  eat  of  his  morsel  and  drank  of  his  own  cup, 
and  it  lay  in  his  bosom,  and  it  was  unto  him  as  a 
daughter.  And  there  came  a  traveler  unto  the  rich 
man,  and  the  rich  man  spared  to  take  of  his  own  flock 
and  own  herd  to  dress  for  the  traveler  that  was  come 
unto  him,  but  took  the  poor  man's  lamb  and  dressed  it 
for  the  traveler." 

As  Nathan  came  to  this  point  in  his  story,  there  was 
complete  silence  for  a  while.  A  pained  look  came 
over  the  face  of  David,  the  heart  of  stone  began  to 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  3!  I 

melt  in  pity  for  that  poor  man  and  his  one  ewe  lamb. 
As  he  thought  of  that  wicked  act  on  the  part  of  the 
rich  man,  David's  anger  was  greatly  kindled  and  he 
said  to  Nathan:  'The  man  that  hath  done  this  is 
worthy  to  die ;  and  he  shall  restore  the  lamb  fourfold, 
because  he  did  this  thing,  and  because  he  had  no 
pity." 

Again  there  was  silence.  Nathan  was  watching  the 
face  of  David,  thinking  what  he  should  say.  And  as 
the  two  men  stood  looking  at  each  other,  Nathan  said 
softly  but  solemnly  to  David:  "Thou  art  the  man." 
Fancy  the  change  that  must  have  come  over  thfc  king's 
face.  His  heart  had  already  melted  in  pity  for  that 
poor  man,  and  all  the  conscience  within  him  had  come 
back.  He  turned  pale  and  felt  sick  in  his  very  soul  as 
Nathan  went  on  to  say,  "Thus  saith  the  Lord:  'I 
anointed  thee  king  over  Israel  and  delivered  thee  out 
of  the  hands  of  Saul.'  Wherefore  hast  thou  despised 
the  word  of  the  Lord  to  do  evil  in  his  sight?  Thou 
hast  smitten  Uriah  the  Hittite  with  the  sword  and 
taken  his  wife  to  be  thy  wife.  Now  therefore  the 
sword  shall  never  depart  from  thy  house." 

And  David  broke  down  completely ;  no  courage  was 
left  in  him  at  all,  he  just  wept  like  a  child  as  he  cried : 
"I  have  sinned,  I  have  sinned."  That  was  all  he 
could  say.  No  mortal  ever  felt  greater  sorrow  than 
David  felt  for  what  he  had  done.  He  had  taken  the 
one  ewe  lamb  of  another.  He  had  stolen  the  wife  of 
one  who  had  served  him  as  a  brave  soldier  in  the  war, 
and  caused  that  man  to  be  put  to  death.  And  he  knew 
that  the  shame  of  it  would  hang  over  his  life  and  over 
his  name  all  through  future  times.  Whenever  the 
story  of  David  would  be  told,  this  awful  deed  would 
have  to  be  told  with  it. 

It  is  said  that  David  wrote  a  psalm  or  hymn  of  pen- 
itence for  this  crime,  and  it  was  a  sad  confession : 

"Have  mercy  upon  me,  O  Lord,  according  to  thy 
loving  kindness.  According  to  the  multitude  of  thy 
tender  mercies  blot  out  my  transgressions.  Wash  me 
thoroughly  from  my  iniquity  and  cleanse  me  from  my 
sin.  I  acknowledge  my  transgression  and  my  sin  is 


312  THE   OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE   STORIES. 

ever  before  me.  Hide  thy  face  from  my  sin  and  blot 
out  all  my  iniquity.  Create  in  me  a  clean  heart,  O 
Lord,  and  renew  a  right  spirit  within  me." 

You  see  in  this  hymn  of  David  how  a  man  feels 
when  he  has  done  wrong.  Somehow  it  is  to  him  as  if 
he  were  not  clean,  or  as  if  he  wanted  to  be  washed  in 
some  way  with  pure  water;  he  wants  a  clean  heart. 
And  David  felt  just  this  way.  He  fairly  hated  him- 
self and  did  not  feel  himself  worthy  to  live.  He 
wanted  to  be  made  all  over  again.  It  could  not  be  as 
if  that  deed  had  never  been  done.  But  I  am  sure 
after  what  Nathan  the  prophet  had  said  to  him,  and 
after  he  had  heard  those  awful  words  spoken  to  him, 
"Thou  art  the  man,"  that  he  never  lost  control  of 
himself  in  the  same  way  again.  But  the  shame  in  his 
heart  was  there  and  it  had  to  stay  with  him  there  all 
the  rest  of  his  days. 

To  THE  TEACHER:  It  is  a  difficult  matter  to  tell 
this  story  and  make  it  effective  in  the  right  way.  We 
naturally  feel  that  one  who  had  been  a  really  good  man 
never  could  have  been  guilty  of  such  an  awful  crime. 
But  the  story  belongs  to  the  whole  narrative  and  must 
be  given.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  great  power  and 
beauty  in  the  parable  by  Nathan.  The  Hymn  of  Peni- 
tence should  be  committed  to  memory  and  recited  in 
the  class.  There  is  some  danger  of  exaggerating  the 
high  character  of  David,  in  fear  lest  from  later  read- 
ing the  young  people  may  feel  that  they  have  experi- 
enced a  disillusion.  From  the  stories  we  have  of  this 
man,  the  good  and  bad  elements  were  mixed  up  in  a 
most  extraordinary  way. 

MEMORY  VERSE:  I  acknowledge  my  transgression 
and  my  sin  is  ever  before  me.  Hide  thy  face  from 
my  sin  and  blot  out  all  my  iniquity.  Create  in  me  a 
clean  heart  and  renew  a  right  spirit  within  me. 


CHAPTER  XLVIII. 
David  and  His  Son  Absalom. 

We  now  come,  alas !  to  something  very  painful  which 
happened  to  David  in  the  course  of  his  reign  of 
forty  years.  It  was  after  he  was  settled  in  Jerusalem 
and  his  children  were  growing  up  around  him,  when  he 
had  become  very  successful  in  overcoming  the  enemies 
of  the  Israelites  and  founding  his  kingdom  in  the 
land  of  Canaan.  My  story  is  concerned  with  an  effort 
on  the  part  of  a  number  of  the  Children  of  Israel  to 
drive  David  out  of  his  place  as  king,  and  to  put  an- 
other man  on  the  throne.  This  must  have  been  very 
hard  indeed  for  David,  when  he  had  done  so  much  for 
the  Israelites.  It  was  what  we  would  call  a  "conspir- 
acy" against  the  king.  David  had  been  compelled  to 
make  a  good  many  enemies  even  among  the  Children 
of  Israel.  He  could  not  let  them  have  their  own  way 
all  the  time,  and  every  now  and  then  had  to  punish 
them  for  disobedience.  Hence  there  were  a  good 
many  of  the  people  who  disliked  or  hated  him. 

But  I  have  not  yet  spoken  of  the  saddest  and  most 
painful  part  of  this  experience  to  David.  It  seems 
that  he  was  extremely  fond  of  one  of  his  sons,  whose 
name  was  Absalom.  He  loved  this  boy  more  even 
than  himself.  Just  why  he  was  so  fond  of  Absalom,  I 
do  not  know.  It  may  be  that  this  boy  was  dearer  to 
him  than  all  his  other  children.  And  now  just  think 
what  took  place.  It  was  this  son  who  took  the  lead 
in  the  conspiracy  in  order  to  set  himself  up  as  king  in 
place  of  his  father  David. 

As  we  are  told:  Now  in  all  Israel  there  was  none 
to  be  so  much  praised  as  Absalom  for  his  beauty. 
From  the  sole  of  his  foot  even  to  the  crown  of  his 
head  there  was  no  blemish  in  him,  And  he  was  said 

813 


314  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

to  have  had  most  beautiful  hair,  which  all  the  people 
admired.  It  may  be  that  this  was  one  reason  why  they 
thought  so  much  of  Absalom,  because  he  was  such  a 
handsome  man. 

But  at  any  rate  this  son  set  about  to  make  himself 
"popular/'  as  we  should  say,  with  the  Israelites,  and 
to  make  all  the  people  like  him.  He  was  scheming  in 
order  to  win  over  the  hearts  of  the  people  so  that  he 
might  become  king  by  and  by. 

As  my  story  runs:  It  came  to  pass  that  Absalom 
prepared  him  a  chariot  and  horses  and  fifty  men  to 
run  before  him.  And  Absalom  rose  up  early  and  stood 
beside  the  gate,  and  it  was  so  when  any  man  had  a 
suit  which  should  come  to  the  king  for  judgment  then 
Absalom  called  unto  him  and  said:  "O  that  I  were 
made  judge  in  the  land  that  every  man  which  hath  any 
suit  or  cause,  might  come  v nto  me  and  I  would  do  him 
justice."  And  it  was  so  that  when  any  man  came  nigh 
to  bow  to  him,  he  would  put  forth  his  hand  and  take 
hold  of  him  and  kiss  him.  And  so  Absalom  stole  the 
hearts  of  the  men  of  Israel. 

I  do  not  suppose  that  David  suspected  what  was  go- 
ing on,  because  he  had  so  much  trust  in  his  boy. 
When  we  love  a  person  we  very  naturally  put  great 
confidence  in  him,  and  it  never  crosses  our  minds  that 
he  could  plan  to  do  us  harm.  So  it  never  entered 
David's  mind  that  Absalom  could  be  planning  any- 
thing wicked  in  trying  to  get  the  friendship  of  the 
people  for  himself.  It  only  made  him  still  more  fond 
of  Absalom. 

Yet  the  blow  had  to  come  at  last.  Absalom  had 
everything  ready  in  order  to  carry  out  his  conspiracy. 
He  said  unto  his  father  the  king:  "I  pray  thee  let 
me  go  and  pay  a  vow  which  I  have  made  in  Hebron." 
And  the  king  said  unto  him :  "Go  in  peace."  So 
Absalom  arose  and  went  to  Hebron.  But  in  the  mean- 
time he  sent  spies  throughout  all  the  tribes  of  Israel, 
saying :  "As  soon  as  ye  hear  the  sound  of  the  trumpet, 
then  shall  ye  say,  'Absalom  is  king  in  Hebron.'  " 

But  when  all  this  had  taken  place  according  to  the 
plans  of  the  conspiracy,  there  came  a  messenger  to 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  315 

David  saying:  "The  hearts  of  the  men  of  Israel  are 
after  Absalom."  Then  it  was  told  David  how  his  son 
was  coming  with  an  army  to  attack  him  and  overthrow 
him.  Just  fancy  what  a  blow  this  was  to  the  king! 
It  was  bad  enough  to  feel  that  the  Israelites,  many  of 
them,  for  whom  he  had  done  so  much,vwere  rising 
against  him  and  becoming  his  enemies;  but  worst  of 
all,  his  own  dear  son  whom  he  had  loved  so  much  had 
gone  against  him,  and  was  trying  to  bring  war  upon 
his  own  father.  One  must  feel  pity  for  poor  David 
after  what  he  had  done  in  founding  the  kingdom  of 
Israel,  and  after  what  he  had  done  for  his  boy  Absa- 
lom. If  there  is  anything  that  breaks  a  man's  heart 
it  is  to  meet  with  glaring  ingratitude. 

David  was  now  obliged  for  a  time  to  flee  from  his 
own  city  in  Jerusalem.  And  as  he  went  up  among  the 
mountains  and  was  passing  beyond,  there  came  a  man 
who  began  to  curse  him.  This  may  have  been  the 
first  real  experience  David  had  had  with  the  con- 
spiracy, giving  him  an  idea  of  all  that  was  being  done 
against  him.  And  one  of  his  soldiers  said :  "Why 
should  this  man  be  allowed  to  curse  my  lord  the  king  ? 
Let  me  go  over,  I  pray  thee,  and  take  off  his  head." 
But  David  was  too  sad  to  allow  this.  Now  that  his 
own  dearest  son  had  turned  against  him,  he  hardly 
seemed  to  care  about  what  was  taking  place.  And  he 
answered:  "Behold  my  son,  my  own  child  seeketh 
my  life !  Why,  then,  should  not  this  other  man  do  the 
same  ?  Let  him  alone  and  let  him  curse." 

But  he  had  to  raise  an  army  and  at  once  see  that 
this  wicked  conspiracy  should  be  put  down.  It 
pained  him  extremely  that  he  should  have  to  go  to 
war  with  his  own  boy  Absalom.  There  was  nothing 
else,  however,  to  be  done.  And  David  sent  forth  the 
army  saying  to  the  leaders :  "Deal  gently  for  my  sake 
with  the  young  man,  even  with  Absalom" ;  and  all  the 
people  heard  when  the  king  gave  the  captains  charge 
concerning  Absalom.  So  the  army  went  forth  to  bat- 
tle and  the  battle  was  in  the  forest  of  Ephraim,  and 
the  army  which  had  risen  up  against  David  was  de- 
feated and  there  was  a  slaughter  there  that  day  of 
twenty  thousand  men. 


3l6  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   BIBLE  STORIES. 

You  would  like  to  know  what  happened  to  Absalom. 
He  had  to  flee  as  his  army  was  defeated.  And  Absa- 
lom rode  upon  a  mule  and  the  mule  went  under  the 
thick  bows  of  a  great  oak  tree,  and  his  hair  caught 
hold  of  the  oak  and  he  was  taken  up  between  the 
heaven  and  the  earth,  while  the  mule  that  was  under 
him  went  on. 

There  was  Absalom  hanging  by  his  hair  from  the 
boughs  of  a  tree.  He  had  thought  a  great  deal  of  this 
beautiful  hair  and  had  admired  himself  for  it  and  taken 
a  great  deal  of  care  to  dress  it  and  make  it  look  more 
beautiful,  so  that  people  should  be  saying  all  the  time 
to  each  other,  "What  handsome  hair  Absalom  has!" 
and  now  this  hair  was  the  cause  of  his  capture  and 
death. 

It  seems,  a  man  of  the  armies  of  Dkvid  saw  Absalom 
hanging  there,  and  told  Joab  and  said:  "Behold  I 
saw  Absalom  hanging  in  an  oak."  And  Joab  said  unto 
the  man  that  told  him:  "Behold  thou  sawest  it  and 
why  dost  thou  not  smite  him  there  to  the  ground,  and 
I  would  have  given  thee  ten  pieces  of  silver  and  a 
girdle."  And  the  man  said  unto  Joab:  "Though  I 
should*  receive  a  thousand  pieces  of  silver  in  my  hand, 
yet  would  I  not  put  forth  my  hand  against  the  king's 
son ;  for  in  our  hearing  the  king  charged  saying,  'Be- 
ware that  none  touch  the  young  man  Absalom/  " 

Then  Joab  took  three  darts  in  his  hand  and  went 
and  thrust  them  through  the  heart  of  Absalom  while 
Absalom  was  yet  alive  hanging  bv  his  hair  from  the 
oak  tree.  And  the  young  men  that  carried  Joab's  ar- 
mor compassed  about  and  smote  Absalom  and  slew 
him.  And  Joab  blew  the  trumpet  and  the  army  re- 
turned from  fighting,  and  they  took  Absalom  and 
cast  his  body  into  a  great  pit  in  the  forest  and  raised 
over  him  a  very  great  heap  of  stones. 

As  yet  David  had  not  been  told  of  what  had  hap- 
pened to  his  son  And  Joab  said  unto  a  man  who 
was  a  Cushite :  "Go  tell  the  king  what  thou  hast  already 
seen."  And  the  Cushite  bowed  himself  unto  Joab 
and  ran. 

Now  David  sat  between  the  gates  of  the  city  and 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  317 

the  watchman  went  up  to  the  roof  of  the  gate  under 
the  walls  and  lifted  up  his  eyes  and  beheld  a  man 
running  alone.  And  the  watchman  cried  and  told  the 
king.  And  the  king  said :  "If  he  be  alone,  there  is  tid- 
ings in  his  mouth." 

And  when  the  messenger  had  arrived  the  first  words 
said  to  him  by  David  were :  "Is  it  well  with  the  young 
man  Absalom?"  And  the  Cushite  said:  "Tidings 
for  my  lord  the  king ;  the  enemies  of  my  lord  the  king 
and  all  that  rose  up  against  thee  to  do  thee  hurt,  be  as 
that  young  man  is  !"  By  this  speech  the  king  knew  that 
Absalom  was  dead.  And  David  was  much  moved  and 
went  up  to  the  chamber  over  the  gate  and  wept.  And 
as  he  wept  thus  he  -said:  "O  my  son  Absalom,  my 
son,  my  son  Absalom ;  would  that  I  had  died  for  thee, 
O  Absalom,  my  son,  my  son." 

And  it  was  told  Joab:  "Behold  the  king  weepeth 
and  mourneth  for  Absalom."  And  the  victory  that 
day  was  turned  into  mourning  unto  all  the  people ;  for 
the  people  heard  say  that  day,  "The  king  grieveth 
for  his  son."  And  the  king  covered  his  face  and  cried 
with  a  loud  voice :  "O  my  son  Absalom,  O  Absalom 
my  son,  my  son." 

And  after  this,  David  returned  to  Jerusalem  and  had 
peace  in  his  kingdom,  and  he  continued  ruling  over  the 
Children  of  Israel. 

To  THE  TEACHER  :  Point  out  the  appalling  guilt  of 
Absalom  in  conspiring  against  his  own  father.  The 
weakness  of  this  man  can  also  be  observed  in  his  vanity 
on  account  of  his  beautiful  hair.  Speak  of  this  with 
contempt. 


CHAPTER  XLIX. 
Solomon  Becomes  King.    The  Death  of  David. 

David  had  become  an  old  man  and  was  about  to  die. 
He  had  decided  that  he  would  make  his  son  Solomon 
to  be  his  successor  as  king  over  Israel.  They  brought 
the  mother  of  Solomon  to  the  aged  king  and  he  said 
to  her :  "Verily  as  I  promised  unto  thee,  saying,  'As- 
suredly Solomon  thy  son  shall  reign  after  me  and  sit 
upon  my  throne  in  my  stead :'  verily  so  will  I  do  this 
day."  Then  Solomon's  mother  bowed  with  her  face  to 
the  earth;  and  king  David  said  further:  "Call  me 
Zadok  the  priest  and  Nathan  the  prophet."  And  the 
king  said  unto  them:  "Take  with  you  servants  and 
cause  Solomon  my  son  to  ride  upon  mine  own  mule, 
and  bring  him  down  to  Gihon  and  let  Zadok  the  priest 
and  Nathan  the  prophet  anoint  him  then  king  over 
Israel;  and  blow  ye  with  the  trumpets  and  say,  'The 
Lord  save  King  Solomon* ;  then  he  shall  come  and  sit 
upon  my  throne,  for  he  shall  be  king  in  my  stead.  I 
have  appointed  him  to  be  prince  over  Israel." 

So  Zadok  the  priest  and  Nathan  the  prophet  went 
down  and  caused  Solomon  to  ride  upon  king  David's 
mule,  and  brought  him  to  Gihon ;  and  Zadok  the  priest 
took  the  horn  of  oil  and  anointed  Solomon;  and  they 
blew  the  trumpet  and  all  the  people  said,  "The  Lord 
save  King  Solomon,"  and  all  the  people  came  up  after 
him  and  the  people  piped  with  pipes  and  rejoiced  with 
great  joy,  and  so  that  the  earth  rent  with  the  sound  of 
them. 

Now  the  days  of  David  drew  nigh  that  he  should 
die  and  he  called  his  son  Solomon  to  his  bedside  for 
his  last  words.  And  he  said  to  Solomon :  "I  go  the 
way  of  all  the  earth,  be  thou  strong,  therefore,  and 
show  thyself  a  man;  and  keep  the  charge  of  the  Lord 
to  walk  in  his  ways,  to  keep  his  statutes  and  com- 

818 


ESTABLISH  MEN?  OF  THE  KINGDOM. 

mandments,  according  to  that  which  is  written  in  the 
law  of  Moses."  And  David  slept  with  his  fathers  and 
was  buried  in  the  city  of  David,  which  was  Jerusalem. 

You  will  care  to  hear  about  the  reign  of  Solomon 
because  it  was  one  of  the  most  famous  reigns  in  the 
world's  history.  A  good  deal  of  the  time  when  David 
was  king,  he  had  been  obliged  to  go  out  and  carry 
on  war  with  the  enemies  of  the  Israelites.  But  now 
for  the  most  part  there  was  peace;  hence  Solomon 
was  able  to  devote  his  time  to  improving  the  condi- 
tions among  the  people.  He  wanted  to  have  the  Israel- 
ites prosperous  as  well  as  happy,  and  according  to  all 
accounts  there  was  much  prosperity  among  the  Israel- 
ites a  great  deal  of  the  time  of  the  reign  of  Solomon. 
I  am  not  sure  that  all  this  good  fortune  was  the  best 
thing  in  the  world  for  the  Israelites,  because  when 
people  are  too  successful  and  have  too  much  money 
and  grow  very  rich,  they  sometimes  forget  other  things 
and  do  not  remember  that  money  or  riches  are  not  the 
only  good  things  in  the  world.  But  be  this  as  it  may, 
there  was  great  prosperity  among  the  Israelites  at  this 
time.  You  will  hear  again  and  again  when  you  grow 
up  about  the  wonderful  reign  of  Solomon. 

What  do  you  suppose  was  the  first  thing  that  Solo- 
mon was  anxious  to  do?  "Why/'  you  say,  "it  would 
be  to  build  that  temple  to  the  Lord  over  All."  Of 
course,  you  remember  it  had  been  promised  to  David 
that  after  his  death,  his  son,  who  should  sit  on  the 
throne,  might  be  allowed  to  build  that  temple. 

Now  it  seems  that  not  far  away  from  the  kingdom 
of  Israel  there  was  another  king  by  the  name  of  Hiram, 
who  ruled  over  Tyre.  And  as  we  are  told,  Hiram  the 
king  of  Tyre  sent  his  servants  unto  Solomon ;  for  he 
had  heard  that  they  had  anointed  him  king  in  the  room 
of  his  father,  and  Hiram  was  ever  a  lover  of  David. 
And  Solomon  sent  to  Hiram,  saying:  "Thou  know- 
est  how  that  David  my  father  could  not  build  a  house 
to  the  Lord,  but  now  the  Lord  hath  given  me  rest  on 
every  side,  and  behold  I  purpose  to  build  a  temple  for 
the  Lord.  Now  therefore  command  thou  that  they 
hew  me  cedar  trees  out  of  Lebanon,  and  my  servants 


320  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

shall  be  with  thy  servants;  and  I  will  give  thee  hire 
for  thy  servants  according  to  all  that  thou  shalt  say; 
for  thou  knowest  that  there  is  not  among  us  any  that 
have  skill  to  hew  timber  like  unto  thy  people." 

And  Hiram  sent  to  Solomon,  saying:  "I  have  heard 
the  message  that  thou  hast  sent  unto  me :  I  will  do  all 
thy  desire  concerning  the  timber  of  cedar  and 
concerning  the  timber  of  fir;  my  servants  shall 
bring  them  down  to  Lebanon  by  the  sea,  and  I  will 
make  them  into  rafts  to  go  by  sea  unto  the  place  that 
thou  shalt  appoint  me."  And  so  Hiram  gave  Solo- 
mon timber  of  cedar  and  timber  of  fir  according  to  all 
his  desire. 

And  Solomon  commanded  that  they  hew  out  great 
stones,  costly  stones  to  lay  the  foundations  of  the 
house  with  wrought  stone.  And  the  house  when  it 
was  building  was  built  of  stone  made  ready  at  the 
quarry,  and  there  was  neither  hammer  nor  ax,  nor  any 
tool  of  iron  heard  in  the  house  while  it  was  building. 
And  thus  he  built  the  house  and  finished  it;  and  he 
covered  the  house  with  beams  and  planks  of  cedar. 

And  Solomon  overlaid  the  house  within  with  pure 
gold,  and  the  whole  house  he  overlaid  with  gold  until 
all  the  house  was  finished,  also  the  whole  altar  he  over- 
laid with  gold.  And  he  carved  all  the  walls  of  the  house 
round  about  with  carved  figures  and  palm  trees  and 
open  flowers  within  and  without.  And  the  floor  of 
the  house  he  overlaid  with  gold,  within  and  without. 
Solomon  was  thirteen  years  building  this  wonderful 
temple. 

After  the  temple  was  finished  and  all  was  ready, 
then  Solomon  called  the  people  together  from  all  over 
Canaan,  to  come  and  behold  it.  The  people  had  a 
great  ceremony  of  "Dedication,"  as  we  should  call  it. 
You  can  be  sure  that  they  were  immensely  pleased 
with  the  beautiful  temple;"  but  there  was  one  thing 
which  we  are  assured  was  said  by  Solomon  at  this 
time  and  which  I  should  like  to  have  you  remember. 
He  knew  that  the  people  would  feel  that  the  Lord  over 
All  lived  just  in  this  temple  and  nowhere  else  He 
wanted  to  warn  them  against  such  a  belief;  and  the 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  32! 

people  therefore  heard  Solomon  say:  "Will  the  Lord 
in  very  deed  dwell  on  the  earth?  Behold  the  heaven 
and  the  heaven  of  heavens  cannot  contain  thee!  How 
much  less  this  house  that  I  have  builded?" 

And  Solomon  spoke  to  the  Great  Ruler  saying: 
"Blessed  be  the  Lord  that  hath  given  rest  unto  his  peo- 
ple Israel  according  to  all  that  he  promised.  There 
has  not  failed  one  word  of  all  his  good  promise  which 
he  promised  by  the  hand  of  Moses.  The  Lord  be 
with  us  as  he  was  with  our  fathers.  Let  him  not  leave 
us  or  forsake  us,  that  he  may  incline  our  hearts  unto 
him  to  walk  in  all  his  ways  and  to  keep  his  command- 
ments which  he  commanded  our  fathers." 

You  can  have  little  idea  of  the  great  wealth,  as  we 
are  told,  that  was  possessed  by  Solomon.  He  had  so 
much  gold  that  he  did  not  care  for  mere  silver,  which 
we  should  also  value  very  much  nowadays.  He  set 
about  to  build  himself  a  great  palace,  and  this  too  was 
built  of  costly  stones,  and  cedar  wood,  and  overlaid 
with  gold.  Moreover  the  king  made  a  great  throne 
of  ivory  and  overlaid  it  with  the  finest  gold.  There 
were  six  steps  to  the  throne,  and  the  images  of  twelve 
lions  stood  on  the  one  side  and  upon  the  other  upon 
the  six  steps.  There  was  not  the  like  made  in  any 
kingdom.  And  all  of  king  Solomon's  drinking  ves- 
sels were  of  gold.  None  were  of  silver.  And  so  king 
Solomon  exceeded  all  the  kings  of  the  earth  in  riches 
and  in  wisdom,  and  all  the  earth  sought  the  presence 
of  Solomon,  and  they  brought  every  man  his  present, 
vessels  of  silver  and  vessels  of  gold,  and  raiment  and 
armor  and  spices,  horses,  and  mules.  And  Solomon 
gathered  together  chariots  and  horsemen  and  he  had 
a  thousand  and  four  hundred  chariots  and  twelve  thou- 
sand horsemen. 

To  THE  TEACHER:  Dwell  upon  the  death  bed  of 
David  and  his  charge  to  Solomon.  Admit  frankly  that 
the  old  man  had  been  anything  but  a  perfect  charac- 
ter, and  that  he  had  failed  sadly  in  being  true  to  the 
charge  he  now  gave  his  son.  One  might  point  out 
that  this  may  have  been  the  very  reason  why  he  gave 


322  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

the  message  so  urgently  to  his  son.  Then  talk  over 
the  building  of  the  temple  and  discuss  some  of  the 
details.  Emphasize  especially  the  speech  of  Solomon. 

MEMORY  VERSES:  Now  I  go  the  way  of  all  the 
earth;  be  thou  strong,  therefore,  and  show  thyself  a 
man, 

Will  the  Lord  in  very  deed  dwell  on  the  earth?  Be- 
hold the  heaven  and  the  heaven  of  heavens  cannot  con- 
tain thee;  how  much  less  this  house  that  I  have 
builded. 


CHAPTER  L. 

The  Wisdom  of  Solomon  and  the  Close  of  the  First 
Kingdom. 

I  have  not  yet  told  you  what  interests  us  most  of  all 
about  the  great  king  Solomon.  It  seems  that  he  had 
something  else  besides  riches.  The  king  had  gone 
quite  early  in  his  reign  to  a  place  called  Gibeon  in 
order  to  make  an  offering  there  to  the  Great  Ruler. 
And  the  Lord  had  said  to  Solomon:  "Ask  what  I 
shall  give  thee."  Now  this  was  a  great  chance  for 
the  king.  He  knew  that  he  might  have  the  one  thing 
that  he  should  ask  for.  He  must  have  thought  a  great 
deal  about  it  and  turned  over  in  his  mind  what  he 
would  most  like  to  have.  I  wonder  if  you  can  guess 
what  it  was.  But  this  is  what  he  said  in  reply :  "Now, 
O  Lord,  thou  hast  made  thy  servant  king,  instead  of 
David  my  father ;  and  I  am  but  a  little  child ;  I  know 
not  how  to  go  out  or  come  in,  and  thy  servant  is  in 
the  midst  of  thy  people  which  thou  hast  chosen,  a 
great  people,  that  cannot  be  numbered  nor  counted  for 
multitude.  Give  thy  servant,  therefore,  an  under- 
standing heart  to  judge  thy  people,  that  I  may  discern 
bteween  good  and  evil."  You  see  what  had  been  the 
choice  of  Solomon.  Instead  of  asking  for  riches  or 
honor  or  great  power  or  beauty,  he  had  asked  most  of 
all  for  wisdom.  And  this  pleased  the  Ruler  of  the 
World  very  much. 

The  Lord  over  All  said  to  Solomon:  "Because 
thou  hast  asked  this  thing  and  hast  not  asked  for  thy- 
self a  long  life,  neither  hast  asked  riches  for  thyself, 
nor  hast  asked  the  life  of  thine  enemies,  but  hast  asked 
for  thyself  understanding  or  wisdom,  behold  I  have 
done  according  to  thy  word;  lo,  I  have  given  thee  a 
wise  and  understanding  heart,  so  that  there  hast  been 
none  like  thee  before,  neither  after  thee  shall  arise 
any  like  unto  thee;  and  I  have  also  given  thee  that 
which  thou  hast  not  asked,  both  riches  and  honor,  so 


32,,  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

that  there  shall  not  be  any  among  the  kings  like  unto- 
thee." 

As  I  have  explained,  all  this,  according  to  my  story, 
afterwards  came  to  pass  with  Solomon.  He  had  great 
wealth,  but  most  of  all  he  is  said  to  have  had  great  wis- 
dom. You  may  like  to  hear  a  story  showing  how  "he 
made  use  of  this  wisdom,  in  knowing  how  to  decide 
in  grave  disputes  among  the  people.  At  one  time 
there  came  to  him  two  women  who  were  mothers,  and 
the  one  woman  said :  "O  lord  I  and  this  woman  dwell 
in  one  house,  and  I  had  a  little  child  within  the  house ; 
and  it  came  to  pass  three  days  after  that,  a  little  child 
was  born  to  this  one  also,  and  we  were  together,  and 
there  was  no  stranger  with  us  in  the  house.  And  this 
woman's  child  died  in  the  night,  and  she  arose  at  mid- 
night and  took  my  son  from  beside  me  while  I  was 
asleep  and  laid  him  in  her  bosom,  and  laid  the  dead 
child  in  my  bosom,  and  when  I  arose  in  the  morning, 
behold  the  child  in  my  arms  was  dead;  but  when  I 
looked  at  it,  it  was  not  my  son." 

Then  the  other  woman  said :  "Nay,  but  the  living  is 
my  son,  and  the  dead  one  thy  son."  And  the  first  one 
said  again:  "Nay,  but  the  dead  one  is  thy  son,  and 
the  living  mine."  Thus  they  spoke  before  the  king. 

And  now  you  will  see  how  wise  Solomon  was  in  the 
way  he  set  about  to  find  out  to  which  mother  the  liv- 
ing child  belonged.  He  told  some  one  standing  by, 
saying:  "Fetch  me  a  sword."  And  they  brought  a 
sword  before  the  king,  and  the  king  said:  "Divide 
the  living  child  in  two  and  give  half  to  the  one  and 
half  to  the  other."  Then  the  woman  to  whom  the  liv- 
ing child  really  belonged,  cried  out :  "O  my  lord,  give 
her  the  child  and  in  no  wise  slay  it."  But  the  other 
woman  said:  "It  shall  be  neither  thine  nor  mine;  di- 
vide it." 

This  settled  it  for  king  Solomon.  He  knew  at  once 
that  if  this  second  woman  had  been  the  real  mother, 
she  would  have  far  rather  had  her  child  given  to  an- 
other than  to  have  her  child  cut  in  pieces  by  the  sword. 
Of  course  he  had  no  intention  of  doing  such  a  cruel 
thing.  And  so  the  king  answered  and  said  to  the 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  325 

woman  who  had  cried  out  not  to  have  the  child  slain : 
"Give  her  the  living  child,  and  in  no  wise  slay  it ;  she  is 
the  mother  thereof."  In  this  way  all  Israel  heard  more 
and  more  of  the  wisdom  of  Solomon. 

People  began  to  come  from  all  over  the  world  in 
order  to  see  the  king,  to  talk  with  him,  to  ask  him 
questions,  and  to  find  out  about  his  great  wisdom. 
We  are  told,  for  instance,  how  the  great  queen  of 
Sheba  heard  of  the  wisdom  of  Solomon  and  how  she 
came  to  test  him  with  hard  questions.  She  arrived  at 
Jerusalem  wtih  a  very  great  train,  with  camels  .that 
bare  spices,  and  with  very  much  gold  and  precious 
stones.  When  she  was  come  to  Solomon,  she  told  him 
all  that  was  in  her  heart,  and  Solomon  answered  all 
her  questions. 

And  as  we  are  told,  When  the  Queen  of  Sheba  had 
seen  all  the  wisdom  of  Solomon  and  the  house  that  he 
had  built  and  the  meat  of  his  table  and  the  sitting  of  his 
servants  and  the  attendance  of  his  ministers  and  their 
apparel  and  their  cup-bearers  ;  there  was  no  more  spirit 
in  her.  And  she  said  to  the  king,  "It  was  a  true  report 
that  I  heard  in  my  own  land,  of  thine  acts  and  of  thy 
wisdom.  Howbeit,  I  believed  not  the  words  until  I 
came,  and  mine  eyes  had  seen  it;  and  behold  the  half 
was  not  told  me.  Thy  wisdom  and  prosperity  ex- 
ceedeth  the  fame  which  I  have  heard.  Happy  are  thy 
men,  happy  are  these  thy  servants  which  stand  con- 
tinually before  thee  and  that  hear  thy  wisdom."  And 
she  gave  the  king  a  great  present  of  gold,  and  of  spices 
a  very  great  store,  and  precious  stones ;  there  came  no 
more  such  abundance  of  spices  as  those  which  the 
queen  of  Sheba  gave  to  king  Solomon.  Then  she 
turned  and  went  back  to  her  own  land,  she  and  her 
servants. 

It  is  time  that  I  should  bring  my  stories  to  an  end. 

We  might  go  on  telling  you  a  great  deal  more,  for 
the  history  of  the  Children  of  Israel  went  on  for  hun- 
dreds of  years.  I  could  describe  how  after  the  death 
of  Solomon  the  Children  of  Israel  began  to  quarrel  and 
have  strife  with  one  another,  and  how  at  last  owing  to 
all  this  strife  the  kingdom  was  divided  into  two  parts, 


326  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORIES. 

so  that  one  part,  consisting  of  two  tribes,  had  its  own 
king  at  Jerusalem  and  was  called  the  Kingdom  of 
Judah;  while  the  other  part  formed  a  kingdom  of  ten 
tribes  called  the  Kingdom  of  Israel.  I  could  explain 
how,  later  on,  they  had  great  wars  with  the  Egyptians 
on  the  one  side  and  with  the  Assyrians  and  Babylonians 
on  the  other  side ;  and  how  great  armies  at  last  over- 
ran their  country,  capturing  Jerusalem  and  carrying 
the  Israelites  off  as  captives  far  away  to  the  city  of 
Babylon. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  a  number  of  their  great 
teachers  arose  and  gave  them  new  thoughts,  newer 
and  higher  ideas  about  right  and  wrong,  new 
and  better  thoughts  about  the  great  Ruler  of  the 
World ;  and  these  teachers  were  called  the  prophets  of 
Israel.  I  could  tell  you  again  how  at  last  the  captive 
Children  of  Israel  were  allowed  to  come  back  to  the 
land  of  Canaan  and  once  more  to  have  their  home  in 
their  great  city  of  Jerusalem;  but  how,  on  the  other 
hand,  during  this  time  the  ten  tribes,  who  had  formed 
the  kingdom  of  Israel,  had  become  lost  altogether,  so 
that  after  that  time  we  hear  only  of  the  two  tribes 
whose  kingdom  centered  around  Jerusalem.  Some 
time  in  the  future  when  you  are  older,  you  will  want  to 
read  all  about  this,  and  hear  more  of  that  wonderful 
history  and  what  took  place  later  on  in  the  city  of 
Jerusalem.  But  I  have  told  you  enough  for  the  pres- 
ent and  will  end  my  story  here  with  the  reign  of  Solo- 
mon. 

To  THE  TEACHER:  The  circumstances  concerning 
the  wisdom  of  Solomon  are  classic,  and  therefore  must 
be  carefully  remembered.  At  this  point  there  should 
be  a  review  of  all  the  stories,  especially  of  the  reigns 
of  Saul,  David  and  Solomon ;  and  then,  also,  a  review 
of  the  entire  series  of  stories,  being  sure  that  the  chil- 
dren remember  the  names  and  incidents  in  the  order  in 
which  they  come.  There  might  also  be  a  complete  re- 
view of  all  the  Memory  Verses. 

THE  LESSON  OF  THE  STORIES  FROM  THE  BIBLE: 
BE  SURE  YOUR  SIN  WILL  FIND  YOU  OUT. 


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**•  24  1947 

lliw 


7^ 


JUN1  1  1952  I  II 


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